LKS TO EM 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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Shelf, 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



WALKS TO EMMAUS. 



BY 

The Late EEV. ISfEHEMIAH ADAMS, D.D, 



BEV. WILLIAM m ADAMS. 



"And tliey said one to another, Did not our lieart burn with- 
in us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He 
opened to us the scriptures ? " — ^Luke xxiv. : 32. 



'): 






FiEST Series: 



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18T9. .c<^ 



BOSTON: '''^ -'^ 

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY, 



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FRANKLIN ST., CORNER OF HAWLEY. 






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T^HE LlBtiAKYl 
OF COBTGRESS 

.Sj^shington 



copyright by 

"William H. Adams, 

1879. 



PRINTED BY WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING , COMPANY • 
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UNTO 

AND WASHED US FROM OUR SINS 
IN HIS OWN BLOOD, 

A.ND HATH MADE US KINGS AND PKIESTS 
UNTO God and his Father; 
TO HIM BE GLORY AND DOMINION 
For Ever and Ever. 
Amen. 



PREFACE. 



Db. James Hamilton, of London, styled tlie Rev. Nelie- 
miali Adams, D. D., " The Washington Irving of Sermon Writ- 
ers.'' Appreciative brethren in the ministry have not hesi- 
tated to term him *' the ablest preacher of his day." Such 
eulogium he would have disclaimed. Yet testimonials from 
readers of his widely distributed publications concur in the en- 

;miums of a writer noticing his volume, ** The Cross In The 
>ell," as appropriate to them all: "The style in which the 
book is written, the simplicity, the felicity of expression, the 
inimitable aptness in quoting Scripture, the delicate touches of 
nature introduced into narrative and conversation, and all 
mellowed and flavored with the richness of the Cross of Christ, 
— reveal the fact that it is from the pen of the Rev. Dr. IN'ehe- 
miah Adams." 

His discourses are unique. Originality is a main character- 
istic. He quoted less than almost any modern writer. Yet he 
constantly suggested the conviction that his mind was stored 
with the thoughts of the best writers of all ages. From his 
mind, as a matrix, each thought issued, coined with an image 
and superscription entirely its own. Powerful in its natural- 
ness, you almost blamed yourself that you had not con- 
ceived that thought. Proficient in logic, a favorite study, he 
was so emancipated from its technicalities as sometimes to 
suggest its absence; yet inexorable deductions from premises 



U. PBEFACE. 

from wliicli there is no appeal, vindicated his independence. 
Khetorically, he studied simplicity that he miglit make divine 
thoughts level with the understanding not only of the wayfar- 
ing man and the little child, but the invalid and the sorrowing 
unable to wrestle with words, yet craving heart-food. His 
friend, the Kev. Professor Phelps, of Andover Theological Sem- 
inary, here observes : **It is the charm of Dr. Adams's style 
and method in preaching, that truth fitted by its profoundness 
to the most thoughtful hearers is made clear to the most illit- 
erate. Few men have adorned the American pulpit with a 
broader reach in adaptation to different classes of mind." His 
manuscripts often show that the sentences which appear the 
simplest were those most elaborated. His was the ars celare 
artem. Addison was, as much as any writer, his model for 
purity of expression. Yet he affirmed that Jeremy Taylor, 
whom he largely read in the theological seminary and his early 
ministry, pervadingly influenced his style. In his last days he 
remarked that were he to begin authorship again, he should 
pay less attention to manner of composition, except severity in 
the use of expletives. He enjoined his son "to take an iron- 
clad oath against adjectives." 

But not pre-eminently even by perspicuity; Dr. Adams's style 
is largely characterized by play of fancy. Like sunbeams on 
the waters, his sanctified imagination gilds theology's great pro- 
founds. Bishop Lowth held that Hebrew poetry was not an 
optional mode of conveying divine truth, but the only form in 
which the finer shades, or peculiar reaches of inspiration could 
be expressed. Dr, Adams seems deliberately to have en- 
wreathed with fancy important commonplaces, as well as ob- 
scure truths, for enforcement or rescue from neglect. 

Because of his individuality as a religious writer, whereby he 
successfully reached the hearts of men, it has been deemed im- 



PREFACE. iii. 

portant to multiply his published discourses. His contempo- 
raries in the ministry encouraging, the plan of this series of 
volumes was projected by the editor during Dr. Adams's last 
illness. The discourses of his entire ministry having been 
classified under each book of the Bible from which the texts 
were severally taken, the selections now published were made, 
Dr. Adams occasionally being physically able not only to ap- 
prove the choice, but also to listen to the re-written sermon. 
With rare exceptions, generally of a few sermons previously 
published in pamphlet form, as " the Power of Christian Grati- 
tude,'' preached at the meeting of the American Board of For- 
eign Missions, at Utica, New York, 1855, it has been requisite 
to transcribe each discourse. Consistently with ministerial 
engagements, the editor hopes to issue from time to time the 
five volumes which will complete this work. He must be held 
responsible for occasional passages where the original sug- 
gested by a few words extemporaneous thoughts, and where 
the manuscript was illegible; as also the captions, generally, of 
the discourses. 

The title of the work, *^ Walks to Emmaus," was discovered 
in one of Dr. Adams's note books projecting new literary labors. 
His sermon on this subject will be found in " The Communion 
Sabbath," page 144. 

While these volumes are designed as ** A Christian Year," 
the discourses will usually be found appropriate for all Sab- 
baths. Instead, however, of those adapted to special occasions 
or anniversaries, — for example, " A New Year's Sermon," one 
of the fifth-Sabbath sermons may prove " a word in season," 
for another portion of the year. It is designed to furnish in 
these volumes, at least one sermon adapted to each phase 
of pulpit and pastoral requirement, and the needs of the soul 
from impenitence to final redemption. 



IV. PBBFACB. 

By glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of a lost 
world ; by revealing to the awakened conscience the guilt of 
sin because committed against God, and offering to the sinner, 
** condemned already because he hath not believed in the name 
of the only begotten Son of God," free salvation through the 
blood of the Lamb ; by illustrating the work of the Holy Spirit 
in leading the sinner to his Saviour, and the believer, through 
sanctification, to an abundant entrance into glory ; and by dis- 
playing the exceeding riches of the grace of God the Father, 
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, — may this 
homiletical work fulfil its author's aim, and continually prove 
that by it he, being dead, yet speaketh. 

THE EDITOR. 



CONTENTS 



-•♦*- 



JANUARY. 

PAGE. 

SABBATH I. A.M. The Untried Way. Josh. 3:4. 7 
P.M. A New Year's Prayer. Ps. 39: 4. 23 



n. A.M. The Gospel and How to Preach It 

Mark 16: 15 

P.M. How to Hear the Gospel. 
Luke 8: 18 



" m. A.M. Foreign Missions. Gal. 2: 20 

P.M. The Grace of Giving. 

2 Cor. 12:14 .... 

" lY. A.M. Man in Ruins. Luke 6: 49. 

P.M. An Almighty Saviour for every 
Sinner. Heb. 7: 25 . 

" Y. A.M. The Sabbath School. 1 Tim. 3: 15 
P.M. The Sabbath School Teacher' i 
Manual. Psalm 138: 2 



39 
53 
71 
113 
127 
139 
153 
171 



FEBRUARY. 

SABBATH L A.M. Christ at Meat with Publicans 

and Sinners. Mark 2 : 15 . . . 197 

P.M. The Nature of Saving Faith. 

Heb. 11:1 213 

(v.) 



VI. CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Sabbath 11. A.M. The Sinner Weighed. Dan. 5: 27. 231 
P.M. Inquirers Described and Directed. 

Matt. 7:8 251 

" III. A.M. The Justice of Pardon. 'Micah 6 : 6,7. 269 

P.M. Peter Prayed Out of Prison. 

Acts 12: 5 285 

" lY. A.M. The Inhabitants of Heaven. 

Kev. 22: 3 297 

P.M. The Joy of Thy Lord. Heb. 1:9. 313 

" Y. A.M. Hobab's Choice. Numbers 10 : 29 . 331 
P.M. The Mysteries of Keligion. 

Psalm 139: 6 349 



WALKS TO EMMAUS. 

JANUARY. 
FiEST Sabbath Morning. 

THE UNTRIED WAY. 
"For ye have not passed this way heretofore." — Joshua iil : 4. 

THE Israelites under Joshua had come to a 
new stage in their journey to the promised 
land. They paused three days to review the past 
and prepare for the coming scenes of their journey. 
After three days the officers went through the host, 
and gave them particular instructions for their 
march. "And they commanded the people, raying, 
when ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord 
your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, 
then ye shall remove from your place, and go after 
it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, 
about two thousand cubits by measure ; come not 
near unto it, that ye may know the way by which 
ye must go." They were to cross the Jordan, and 
the ark of God must go before them to point the 
way, hence the direction to stand back from the 
Ark, and let it advance so far that it might be in 
sight of the host. The reason assigned for this 
precaution and for these particular directions was 
this : " For ye have not passed this ivay heretofore,'^ 
Notwithstanding their great experiences for forty 

7 



8 Walks to JEmmaus. 

years from Egypt, they were now in circumstances 

which had never happened before. " Ye have not 
passed this' way heretofore." 

Life is not a circle, however similar many of our 
circumstances may be from year to year. It is an 
onward march. No doubt many things in our con- 
dition and experience will be precisely the same 
this year as the last, and yet as we stand upon the 
threshhold of this new year, it may be said to us 
with truth and as a matter of solemn interest, ye 
have not passed this way heretofore. 

I shall first illustrate the following truth : 
^ur life is a succession of new and important 
influences. 

We are to meet this year with new events. Things 
which never happened to us before will occur to us 
this year. Even those things which may seem to 
be a repetition of former events will not be the 
same, but under circumstances and with an ex- 
perience entirely new. If we should meet with 
prosperity it will be with a freshness and vividness 
that will make it in its effect upon us, new. If 
death comes to our circles, it will touch our heart- 
strings which have never felt his icy finger, or 
make those which have already quivered feel new 
sensations. Things wholly new in our experience 
will occur, and as we go through them, we shall 
often be at a loss in seeking direction from our past 
experience. As we wake each morning we behold 



The Untried Way. 9 

a new day : the sun has risen for nearly six thou- 
sand years, but as at each time of his rising, he has 
made an entirely new day, so we shall continually 
meet during this year with new and untried occur- 
rences, of which as we go through them it may be 
said to us. Ye have not passed this way heretofore. 

We are this year to be placed in new situations. 

As we live in a changing world we must neces- 
sarily partake of its changing influences. If we 
are in sorrow now, we shall meet with things which 
will retrieve or absorb our sorrow. If we are 
happy, new accessions may be made to our happi- 
ness, or days of darkness may come over us. This 
experience will be in such sense new, as to require 
new and peculiar help and grace from God. We 
may be placed in new relations to others. Changes 
affecting our whole lives may occur to us this year. 
We may occupy new places, or be thrown into cir- 
cumstances in our present conditions and situations 
which will verify the words of the text. 

As no place or condition is free from temptation 
with a change of circumstances we must expect 
new trials. That proneness to evil which is in us 
will be excited by new events. If we are pros- 
pered we shall walk amid snares. If we are de- 
pressed we shall walk over pitfalls. If we grow 
rich we shall be tempted to forget God, and if we 
are poor, or become so, if we do not steal or de- 



10 Walks to Ummaus. 

fraud, we shall be tempted with murmuring 
and the various liabilities connected with a hard 
lot. It may be, and it is altogether probable, that 
we shall be exposed to temptations that will cost 
as hard a struggle as any that we have encountered. 
We shall feel that we are peculiarly tried. We 
shall see peculiar danger around us. We shall 
stand or fall this year to our good or injury in new 
scenes of probation. 

We shall have new wants, temporal and spiritual. 

If we are now full, and have no need, it may not 
be so always. Some may be so situated for the 
want of means that they will suffer anguish. Past 
difficulties and straits will seem easy compared 
with these new necessities ; not that it is really so, 
but this is our temptation to feel that the present 
distress exceeds others. New circumstances will 
create new desires, — some rational and others im- 
proper, but all of them conspiring to make new 
wants, which must either be gratified or suppressed. 
But above all, our spiritual natures will need help. 
It may be, it is true, some will seek to satisfy the 
wants of their souls with earthly pleasure, feeding 
the immortal with perishing things ; but this will 
leave us unsatisfied, and still crying, "Who will 
show us any good?" But if we are sensible of 
our spiritual wants, that is, of our thirst after God, 
and likeness to him, we shall not think so much 
even of our natural hunger as of them, for we shall 



The Untried Way, 11 

feel that the soul is more than meat, and the sup- 
ply of it more than raiment. We shall have new 
desires for the favor of God, new convictions of 
our infinite ill-desert ; there will probably be times 
when there will be disclosed to us new recesses 
dark and deep in our natures which need to be en- 
lightened and purified by the Holy Spirit. We shall 
see limes, if God is carrying on a work of sanctifi- 
cation within us, when we shall have assurances of 
our depravity that will fill us with confusion ; and 
in proportion as we advance in Christian improve- 
ment the comparison of ourselves with God and 
with perfect goodness will have this effect on us. 
There will be times when we shall have insatiable 
desires after a likeness to God's requirements, 
when the consciousness of remaining evil will make 
us cry, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away 
from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit 
from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, 
and uphold me with thy free Spirit." 

Then there will be times when the anticipation 
of death and eternity will make us earnestly 
desire the light of God's countenance and the 
full assurance of hope. As some who approach 
a distant city gain new views of it and it breaks 
upon them with increasing power, so as we ad- 
vance towards the world to which we are 
going, we shall have fresh impressions of its reality 
and of the importance of preparing for it. There 



12 Walks to Emmmis. 

will be times when the death of others will make 
us cry to Him who alone can give lis the victory- 
over death. Instances of death will occur among 
the fashionable and worldly circles, in which the 
gay, the thoughtless, the happy in this world's 
goods may make us feel the vanity of earth and 
the contrast of the future state to one who lived 
for time, for self, for earthly' pleasure. 

Some of the good and useful may be suddenly 
cut down in the midst of their usefulness, and make 
us feel that nothing, even goodness and useful- 
ness creates exemption from the summons of death. 
Perhaps some of our own kindred may be called 
away, and the voice of God may sound in our ears, 
saying, " Thus will I do unto thee : and because I 
will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God." 
Then what shall we do without God, without 
Christ, without hope ? There will be times when 
eternity will cast its great shadows upon us, and 
the apprehension of future endless existence in joy 
or woe will, if we are not dead in our moral sensi- 
bilities, excite intense longings in us to be at peace 
with God, that we may say, " Yea, though I walk 
through the valley of tho shadow of death, I will 
fear no evil, for thou art with me," and be able to 
add, "For we kno\^that if this earthly house of our 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 

It is impossible for us to live in any comfort 



The Untried Way. 13 

with strong ungratified desires. The desires of a 
regenerated soul which is alive to God, are stronger 
than that of flesh and blood, because they belong 
to our higher natures which are capable of greater 
excitement, and the objects which appeal to them 
are more powerful than the limited objects of time 
and sense. The more these feelings are exercised, 
the more we become capable of feeling, and thus 
with advancing years, we are to expect that we 
shall be more and more sensitive to religious joys 
and fears. As time passes away, as the things of 
the world to come draw near, the heart will often 
beat quicker, the soul will be more frequently 
thrilled with expectations of all which is to come. 
At every new view by faith of things unseen, the 
impression will be constantly repeated upon our 
minds, " Ye have not passed this way heretofore," 
and the consequence will be, that we shall need 
God's presence and aid as we never felt the need 
of it before. 

Shall we not have new transgressions to repent 
of and be forgiven ? 

There is no man that liveth and sinneth not. 
God will prove us to see what is in our hearts, and 
though we purpose that we will not transgress, and 
in the main may live as Christians, we shall never- 
theless sometimes have occasion for deep humility 
and application to the blood that cleanseth from all 
sin. The greater our experience of the goodness 



14 Walks to Emmaus. 

of God, the greater our attainments as Christians, 
the more deeplj^ shall we feel our departures from 
what is right, the more bitter will be our tears of 
sorrow, the more need shall we have of a divine 
Spirit, to search us and discover to us our error and 
the way of restoration. We may rely upon this, 
that the coming year, if we are truly the followers 
of Christ, we shall feel our need, as we never felt it 
before, of continued forbearance, mercy, and of the 
assistance of God's Spirit to make us what we 
ought to be. 

Our character as moral and relio^ious beings de- 
pends very much on our views of moral and relig- 
ious truth, the principles we are thereby led to 
form, and the motives which we draw from them 
to influence our conduct. If we have unworthy 
views of God, our characters and conduct will 
show it, and though these views may be indistinct, 
yet, like the letters on a stamp which it is difficult 
to read, but which when the seal receives them 
are legible and plain, so will it be with the impres- 
sion which our views of God make upon our char- 
acters and habitual conduct. Our views and feel- 
ings with regard to Clmst, our understanding of 
scriptural requirements, that is, of the law of God, 
our sense of duty as derived from conscience and 
the Bible, will determine what we are, and what 
we do. The present year, we are all to receive im- 
pressions of these things : in reading the Bible, in 
reflecting upon ourselves, and by the various means 



The Untried Wag. 15 

of religious improvemeiii whieli we enjojr we axe to 
be inflaenced with regard to the great subject of 
moral and religious truth* Now we maj be left to 
£dl into error. Though in the main sincere, we 
may adopt some erroneous prindple of ecmdaet 
which will hurt ««, and so £ur as we hare inflnenee, 
those with whom we are connected. Or we maj 
be sanctified bj tlie truth; receive right Tiews c/t 
CTcrj thing that can effect our characters and ecHft- 
duct, and grow therebj in grace and in the knowl- 
edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The 
present jear we are either to know more of religion, 
moral and q[Mritual things, br the ineneaee of a cor- 
rect knowledge, or we are to know less by 
piehending important truths. This is of the 
importance to our ^[liritnal well-being as the eve is 
to the moTcments, tibe ha^iiDess and welCue of 
the body and mind. Now if thine eye be sing^ 
thy whole body shall be full of light. 

There is an event which may occur to us this 
year of the most solemn and impcniant nature, the 
event of death. As we go through its dark pc»tals, 
with what meaning it may be said to us, ^ Ye have 
not passed this way heretofore.'^ We may add, 
^ And shall never pass this way agaiu."^ If pre- 
pared, eternal life awaits us, and if not, we canmrit 
return and prepare to die. The dioeen porticm 
and the world for which we have prepared on 
earth receive us when we die. Sujqpose that this 
year includes the day of our departure out of this 



16 Wmlk^ U Mmmmu. 

world, and suppose that we knew it. We should 
feel the importiinee of making our calling and elec- 
tion sure. But is it not wise to consider the wonls 
of Christ on this point ? — '• Let your loins be girded 
about^ and your lights burning, and ye yoursehes 
like imto men that wait for their lord, when he 
will return from the wedding, that when he cometh 
and knocketh, they may open unto him imme- 
diately." •• Watch, therefore, for ye know neither 
the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man 
cometh,'* 

Let us turn for instruction in the improyement 
of this subject to the correction giyen to Israel in 
connection with the wonls of our text. As they 
had neyer passed that way before, they were com- 
mandeil so to arrange themselves and conduct their 
march, as to have a clear and full \'iew of the ark 
of the coyenant as it passed by before them. By 
keeping their eye upon it and following where it 
led, they would go forward in that dangerous 
passage of the Jonian in safety. What may we 
learn from this to assist us in the important and 
trying eyents of the coming year ? 

I answer. 

The ark of God. upon which the Israelites were 
commanded to fix their eyess contained the law of 
God, the two tables of stone. We may not inap- 
propriately say, that if we would pass through the 
scenes of cominir life safely, we should haye con- 
stant reference to the will of God. 






» 



He UmirUd Wiuf. 17 

It is impoKiUe for us to 0t e- 
bare tUs fiin^le desiie and aim, t 
the win <tf God. If our eondoet ^ 

firom file hour of seetet pcavfer . ^ 

wlodi we Inre inqdieiify eaad, Loi 

tihoa bawe me to do ? — and flie pre^ailii} 

oar words is tibat of Clirist, ^ I 

win, O mj God ; yea, Hkj \x^ "t, 

it would Dot be easy f(^ us t ^. Oxirdi&- 

positioii would be to do t^;fat. tv, 

Godgivetb liberally <tf w' 

him« ^ Tbe meek will be 

medk will be teach ids tt 

that &aiedi«be Lord? H„ 

wmjrtibatbe^ — the mar— • 

efc^s of a good maa ai 

be dellgbtefii in biswii' 

ticHL. Wbat assmnee e ! 

And tbe eoodition is tl 

eyenpon tbe win of God. L 

tbis jear as we pass akn^ to lis: o«ii e 

as our patb, motion, guide, origrL^ 

azk wbich Inad fdlowed impl 

and use sometbii^ eke. It w 

eoTOiant. It was Ae sign and s;. .^\^. .. 

enant between God and Isad. U -z it ilie Is- 
raelites were eammanded to fix I ob- 
serve tberefine, finally: 

In paasiiig tbroi^^ tbe seenes of tbe 
year, we most remember the 
tween maar ctf us asii God. 




18 Walks to Emmaus. 

This house is witness that many of you made a 
covenant with God. Other houses of worship tes- 
tify concerning some of us that we also made a 
covenant with him, and this table and these walls 
bear witness to that covenant frequently repeated. 
We are not to forget that we have sworn to the 
Lord and cannot go back. Who of us wishes to do 
it? Who would renounce a covenant-keeping 
God ; who would abjure a dying, interceding 
Saviour ; who would forever grieve awaj^ the 
Holy Ghost from their hearts ? None of us, it may 
be, deliberately ; and yet are we not all prone to 
do it unconsciously, and do we not do it when we 
sin ; when we act on worldly principles, and prefer 
worldly pleasures to serving God ? In those times 
of temptation, we are to remember our covenant- 
engagements. " I have sworn unto the Lord and 
I cannot go back." We do not, perhaps, think 
enough of our having made a covenant with God, 
that he witnessed and recognized it. There should 
be times, special times, when for the sake of im- 
pressing this truth upon our minds we should de- 
vote ourselves to a particular recollection of our 
engagement to be the Lord's. The sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper and the service preparatory to 
it are suitable opportunities for us to consider and 
to renew our covenant with God. Suppose, my 
Christian friends, that we lived with this habitual 
impression upon our minds, " I am under solemn 
covenant engagements to serve and obey God ; " 



The Untried Way. 19 

it would Lave a similar effect on us as it did on the 
host of Israel as they looked upon that ark of the 
covenant going hefore them and leading the way. 
There went the law of their God ; there went the 
sign of the covenant between them and him ; they 
must follow after it vrith their eyes upon it, and 
every pious Israelite could not fail in so doing to 
walk daily with God. 

Now then, Christians, the ark of the Lord of 
hosts is about to move on before you for another 
year in the wilderness. Ye cannot yet come to the 
rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your 
God giveth you. But you are on the way to it. 
We will go forward from this time in accordance 
with the example of Israel now set before us. We 
are to assemble, a sacramental host around a sacra- 
mental ordinance, purposely to renew our covenant, 
to ask and receive the pardon of all our sins, and 
then to begin for another year our journey heaven- 
ward. All that I would add is, keep your heart 
and eye upon the will of God, and remember the 
covenant which stands between you and him. 
Obey that wUl, and it shall be well with you for- 
ever. Keep that covenant, and in all the scenes 
of life and death, of judgment and eternity, you 
will find that God is to you a covenant-keeping 
God. 

As the host of Israel moved on to their promised 
Canaan, through the countries of those who did 
not serve God, so there is a people of God who are 



20 Walks to I^mmaus. 

now passing on to lieaven in the midst of the im- 
penitent, of the aliens from the commonwealth of 
Israel. Those of jou, heloved hearers, who are 
not in covenant with God, witnessed by him in 
secret, if not in public, are called to see an inter- 
esting and affecting sight to-day. You see the 
people of God, belonging to these churches, pre- 
paring now to resume their journey to their prom- 
ised land. Here is to be the feast of the passover 
slain for them, and here they are to renew their 
covenant with God, and then to march on towards 
heaven. Over their heads is the cloud by day and 
the pillar of fire by night. The angel of the cove- 
nant leads them, guides them ; they are drawing 
nigh to their journey's end. They have seen the 
clusters from the promised land ; sometimes they 
see the hill-tops and scent the breezes of their 
glorious home. But they are passing on without 
you. They have sojourned in your country for 
some time, and you have not joined them, but are 
yet strangers to the covenant of promise. We 
propose to you this day, that you solemnly consider 
whether you will not join with the people of God. 
If ye will inquire, inquire ye, return, come. You 
may never see the people of God again under such 
interesting and solemn circumstances as you now 
do upon this new-j'ear's sabbath. When this anni- 
versary returns, you may be beyond the reach of a 
similar invitation. Lifting up your eyes, you may 
see them coming from the east and from the west, 



The Untried Way. 21 

from the north and from the south, and sitting 
down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the 
kingdom of God. From the far distant liill of 
Zion their song may come to you like the sound of 
many waters, the Yoice of a great multitude, and 
of harpers harping on their harps. 

Do not Tenture on alone. Be this the prayer of 
every one of you this daj^, witnessed by a surren- 
der of yourself to God : " Thou shalt guide me 
with thy counsel, and afterward receive lue to 
glory.'' 



JANUARY. 



FiEST Sabbath Aftern'oon. 



-<♦*- 



A NEW YEAR'S PRAYER. 



" Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my 
days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am." 

— Psalm 39: 4. 



IT was not, of course, the prayer of the writer 
that he might know when he was to die, for he 
could not have made such a request with any ex- 
pectation that it would be granted. 

But his meaning is, Lord, make me to think o£ 
my end and to remember that my days have a cer- 
tain measure, so that I may keep in mind that I 
am frail. 

He had occasion, as we all have, to offer such a 
prayer because our natural disposition is not to 
consider that there is a fixed measure to our days. 

It would be more in accordance with some of 

23 



24 Walks to Emmaus. 

the sentiments and customs of a new year to begin 
the addresses from the pulpit in a different strain 
from that suggested by the text. Strange as it 
may appear to some, the surest way to make this 
the happiest year of our lives is to begin with a 
due sense of our frailty and of the uncertainty 
which there is how many, or whether all its clays 
will be measured to us. The subject of this dis- 
course, therefore, will be the advantages of keep- 
ing the end of life in view. 

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the 
measure of my days, what it is. Singular prayer, 
in the estimation of many, whose petition rather 
would be. Lord, help me to keep this subject out 
of my thoughts. 

I. Our life is to have an end, and we know not 
how soon. 

On the calendar of future time a day is marked 
by the appointment of God which is to be with 
each of us, respectively, the day of our death. As 
we take up the calendar for the present year, all 
its days have the same blank look, except that here 
and there we see an anniversary of an interesting 
event. One of those undistinguished days, how- 
ever, may be the day of days to us. It is certain, 
if we judge from the past, that one or more of us 
will die this year. Of the twenty years last past 
there has been no one in which one or more who 
were present on the Sabbath of the new year in 
health, have not during the year been numbered 



A New Years Prayer. 25 

with the dead. You would not have selected them 
as appointed to die that year any more than you 
now regard yourself as destined this year to die. 
This year there will be an exception to the course 
of human events if one or more of us now present 
are not at the close of the j^ear in eternity. 

Since, then, our life is to have an end and we 
know not how soon, is there any advantage in 
being familiar with this truth ? That there is, will 
be seen when we consider : 

II. That all our future and eternal condition 
depends upon this short and uncertain life. 

Of all the reflections which occur to a serious 
mind in connection with the death of a fellow- 
creature there is no one more affecting than this : 
He has entered upon an unchangeable state for 
eternity. 

To think that his condition is now unalterable ; 
that while God lives and reigns that soul will fol- 
low on in the track of which death was the portal, 
is a reflection which makes the event of death un- 
utterably solemn. Even though it be a Christian 
friend who has died, one of whom you have the 
best possible assurance that he is happy, this can- 
not fail to affect 5^ou as much as any other consid- 
eration : His condition for eternity is now fixed. 

A man who is anxious to sustain his credit, and 
is liable to perplexity if he does not keep in mind 
the days when his pecuniary obligations come to 
maturity, is careful to keep his memorandum in 



26 Walks to Emmaus. 

sucli a manner that he will be sure to anticipate 
the day of payment in season to provide for it. If 
for such a purpose a man compels liimself to know 
that day, and studiously keeps the approach of it 
in mind, it is a part of wisdom and prudence for 
us to desire that God would make us to know our 
end. Consequences which are never to cease de- 
pend upon it ; and there is tliis consideration con- 
nected with it, that we know not from day to day 
when it will be. To-day you may be anticipating 
years on earth ; to-morrow you may be where the 
seal of eternity will be placed on your character 
and condition. 

If there is any folly Which can be called infinite 
it is to neglect to prepare for the end of life, and 
an unwillingness to know that it must have an 
end. It must come, and with it the dread realities 
of a future state. Lord, make me to know mine 
end. 

III. We cannot in a suitable manner prepare 
for the end of life, unless we are willing to know 
and feel that there is a measure to our days. 

The habit of men generally, is to feel and act 
without reference to the end of life, but rather as 
though they were to live here indefinitely. A 
gloomj^, desponding frame of mind would unfit us 
for the duties of life, and neither Psalmist nor any 
one else ever prayed that such might be the influ- 
ence of expected death on him. The contempla- 
tion of the end of life referred to by the Psalmist, 



A New Year's Prayer. 27 

was a rational admission and a deliberate consider- 
ation of the truth that he must die. Unless we 
are affected by this truth, death has no proper in- 
fluence upon us. The Psalmist wished that he 
might be impressed with this habitual thought 
that he was frail : That I may know how frail I 
am. 

If we admit the thought and make it a practical 
thing with us, that we are frail, that our days have 
a measure, and the end of life will certainly arrive, 
it will moderate our pursuit of mere worldly hap- 
piness ; and while it does not abate our zeal and 
industry, it will lead us to set a lower value and 
therefore a more just estimate of worldly things. 
This is the intention of those words of the apostle, 
"Let your moderation be known unto all men; 
the Lord is at hand. " The thought that the com- 
ing of the Son of man, at our death, is near, is 
here given as a reason for moderation in every- 
thing. We would not be surprised by him in the 
midst of excesses and follies. '' Seeing that ye 
look for such things, be diligent that ye may be 
found of him in peace, without spot, and blame- 
less." Therefore it is said again : ^' Let us not 
sleep as do others ; but let us watch and be sober." 
Now the expectation of our end is the means of 
making us sober and moderate in all things. 

But something still needs to be said to meet the 
natural feeling that the contemplation of the end 
of life is inconsistent with happiness while we live. 



28 WalTcB to JEmmaus. 

and many perhaps cannot see anything in such a 
prayer as we have in our text : " That I may know 
how frail I am," but a melancholj^ state of mind, 
and a hindrance to all enjoyment. 

I observe, therefore, 

IV. A proper view of the end of life is the 
means of rational peace and comfort. 

To one who believes that his peace is made with 
God through the Redeemer, the more familiar the 
contemplation of the end of life, the greater the 
enjoyment of life, while life remains. There is no 
happiness to be compared with the prospect of 
being prepared for eternity, the great transaction 
past of being justified and admitted to the number 
of the children of God, with the assurance also 
that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

There is abundant evidence of this, that they 
who in possession of a good hope have been 
brought nigh to death, and were prepared to de- 
part and be with Christ, on their recovery have 
been able afterward, to contemplate death free 
from those terrors with which it was once invested. 
. So with those who have followed a Christian 
down to the valley of death, and have seen his 
composure and his anticipations of Heaven, and 
that the mental pain of dying, in the ease of a 
Christian, is far greater in imagmation than in re- 
ality, and how one thing succeeds another grad- 



A New Yearns Prayer, 29 

ually and peacefully, till the soul takes its joj^ful 
flight to realms on high. There is a feeling, I say, 
in the spectator of such scenes, if he be a Chris- 
tian, that death is desirable, and it would be no 
great effort for him to lie down on that same bed 
of death, and follow the emancipated spirit on its 
radiant way to Heaven. To such an one there is 
no spot so sacred and pleasant as that from which 
the soul of a Christian friend ascended to Christ. 
That spot is the foot of the ladder reaching into 
Heaven, and the angels of God ascend and descend 
on it. There is no place on earth which seems 
nearer Heaven than the place of departure for a 
redeemed spirit leaving earth and entering the 
skies. Once, perhaps, death and all connected 
with it was clothed in terrible forms to one who 
afterward when he loses a child or a Christian 
friend by death has no other feeling towards it 
than that it is the gate of endless joy, which when 
shadows and darkness were upon it was a gloomy 
barrier, but when illumined by the sunshine of 
Heaven reflected from a redeemed soul passing 
through it, appears to be no less beautiful than 
one of those gates of pearl, on golden hinges turn- 
ing, which are the gates of life rather than the 
gates of death. 

We see then, and it is an interesting and com- 
forting truth, that the more closely we are brought 
into contact with death, if we are the heirs of 
God, it becomes a source of absolute pleasure. 



30 Walks to Emmaus. 

The curse connected with it seems to be removed ; 
and djdng appears to be translation or transfigura- 
tion. A forest in autumn, when its foliage is 
touched by a sudden sharp frost, is an object of 
great beaut3^ There are not many objects in na- 
ture which fill the mind with such sensations ; and 
some who have crossed the seas to view our scen- 
ery have declared that this change of the leaf sur- 
passed every form of beauty in nature which they 
had ever seen. Decay and death come to the for- 
ests in mild and beautiful forms. Thus to the eye 
of a Christian the death of a believer has no ter- 
rors ; it is the change of the leaf. This gazing 
up into Heaven to follow the upward flight of the 
soul is not only natural and pleasant, but it makes 
you feel that it will be no hard path for you to 
tread if you are Christ's. So that we see this 
truth most plainly established by facts, that* the 
closer the contact which a surviving Christian has 
with death, the more desirable it seems to him, 
and the more of a hallowed light is reflected by it 
on his days. It is true, then, beyond question that 
a proper view of the end of life is the means of 
rational peace and comfort. '' Lord, make me to 
know mine end, and the measure of my days what 
it is; that I may know how frail I am." 

V. If we connect with the end of life, as we 
should do, the thought of being in Heaven, it will 
be extremely profitable to keep that end in view. 

With all their doubts and fears, Christians can- 



A New Year's Prayer. 81 

not but say that they hope through infinite grace 
to reach Heaven. This is the lowest point of faith 
and hope. There are times when they feel and 
say that unless everything is a delusion, they have 
complied with the conditions of eternal life, and 
they know that to all such Heaven is sure. This 
being so, w^e surely ought to feel the powers of the 
world to come more than we do. Alas ! how 
grovelling we are in our affections and pursuits-^ 
our souls are too much like domesticated fowls, 
which though they have wings, never rise above 
the house top ; and seldom fly at all unless they 
are frightened ; whereas others soar in the firma- 
ment. The fault is with our faith, which is like 
wings to the soul ; or because we are encumbered 
and weighed down, or our carnal natures have too 
much attraction towards the earth to rise far above 
it: — 

" O might I once mount up and see 
The glories of the eternal skies." 

If we only had some adequate impression of 
what it is to be in Heaven, surely we should say 
with David, " Lord, make me to know^ mine end." 

Suppose, then, that a year from this morning, 
one or more of us, as there is hardly a question 
some of us will be, are in Heaven. Would it seem 
to us, then, an undesirable thing, while living, to 
think much of Heaven ? How is this ? Let us en- 
deavor to satisfy ourselves on this point as we may 



32 Walks to Emmaus. 

easily do by some reflections on those who this 
morning find themselves there, but a year to-day 
joined in the praises and prayers of this sanctuarj^ 
When the morning of the new year opened on 
many a dwelling, where the voices of children, 
like the early birds hailed the day, the thought 
came over those bereaved households : One who 
imparted the chief pleasure to this occasion is not 
here. Wiiere is he? We saluted him first of all on 
such an occasion as this, but now we cannot wish 
him a Happy New Year. But how little he needs 
that wish. A Happy New Year indeed it is with 
him, and thousands of returns in prospect. The 
thought is irresistible : What a contrast between 
his prospects for the year and ours ! It is a thought 
of inexpressible pleasure that a departed friend 
has before him the prospect of unmingied joy : 

** Thou art in port ; Ti'e on tlie stormy deep.'' 

He will have no sin, no temptation, no depart- 
ing from God, no fears. This year what acquaint- 
ances he will make in Heaven ! Parents, and broth- 
ers, and sisters, and near friends are in many instan- 
ces his companions. We on earth shall meet in 
our little circles to pray and weep over our sins, to 
comfort each other in our trials, to keep our Fasts 
and Thanksgivings, and to gird ourselves for the 
work of Christ. He will meet with friends and 
with the societies of Heaven to rejoice, but not to 
weep. We must be exercised with earthly cares, 



A New Year's Prayer. 33 

what shall we eat, and wherewithal shall we be 
clothed ? We must bear the burden of family 
government, discharge the duties of our callings. 
and meet the vicissitudes of life. He now has no 
care even for his children ; his responsibleness tor 
them is entirely taken from him, and at the same 
time, we cannot but think his ability to help them 
is far greater than ever. It admits of a question, 
after all, whether the loss, as we call it, of a par- 
ent, is a loss on the whole to his children, if that 
parent is with Christ. Angels are "ministering 
spirits. " He who says glorified friends are not, is 
as presumptuous as he who asserts that they are. 
Who, in Heaven, of all created beings, can feel 
towards a surviving family like a parent ? While 
we need not be visionarj^, or build anything upon 
the idea, we may suppose that a glorified parent or 
friend is more than ever our helper. The Savioin% 
it is true, absolutely needs none to help him in 
taking care of us, yet he employs the ministry of 
angels. " They sliall bear thee up in their hands, 
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." And we 
may without presumption believe, that the friend 
whom we felt we had lost, irreparably lost, is after 
all, a more powerful defender and helper than 
ever, and it is possible, was taken from us that he 
might be so. Instead, then, of spending this year 
in cryings, and tears, and labor, and travail on be- 
half of those who were dear to him, he will per- 



84 Walks to Emmaus. 

haps, spend it in promoting their interests and 
happiness a thousandfold more than ever. 

No more does he awake day after day, and take 
up the burden of life : no more does he spend 
those long winter nights, restless with weakness or 
pain. This year he will attain to a state of knowl- 
edge and bhss immeasurably beyond that of the 
wisest man on earth. O the prospect with which 
this year opened before a glorified saint, who on 
the morning of the new year found himself with 
Christ ! Lord, it is good for us to be there ! Peter 
was right in saying this on Tabor, but not as to 
the Tabernacles. It is good to be there. " Lord, 
make us to know our end, and the measure of our 
days, what it is ; that we may know how frail we 
are." 

I remark in conclusion, 

I. This subject brings forcibly to view the bless- 
edness of the true Christian. * He is able to make 
death itself minister to his comfort and improve- 
ment. He is able to look it in the face. He can 
pray. Lord, make me to know mine end. He is 
not obliged as others are to hide himself from the 
thought of death. To him apply those words of 
assurance and hope : " All things are yours ; 
whether the world, or life, or death, or things pres- 
ent, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are 
Christ's ; and Christ is God's." 

One thing needs to be observed : if you are at 
peace with God, you have nothing to fear ; if 



A New Year 8 Prayer, 35 

death should overtake you, God will give you feel- 
ings which will enable you to meet it in a manner 
of which in health you are not competent to have 
an adequate conception. This new portion of 
your existence may well begin with the prayer 
that God will give you a proper sense of your 
frailty, so that you may have the blessedness of 
that servant whom Christ, you may have observed, 
describes more minutely and with greater emphasis 
than almost anything else, whom his Lord when 
He Cometh shall find watching. Let us especially 
bear in mind that if we are all which we profess^ 
we are going to Heaven. " For they that say such 
things, declare plainly that they seek a country." 
Let us often think what it must be to find our- 
selves in Heaven, and with what feelings we shall 
regard our present conduct and manner of life as 
heirs to Heaven. We have had many warnings ; 
many solemn providences called to us from the 
year that is passed. God has taken others and 
made them the instruments of teaching us. Let 
us listen to the voice of His providence, saying as 
it does, so loudly to us, be ye also ready. With 
such events passing before us, and coming so near 
to us surely we shall have no excuse if we do not 
walk with God, nor can we say, however suddenly 
death may come to us, that we have" not been suffi- 
ciently warned or had sufficient opportunity to be 
ready against the coming of the Son of Man. 



36 Walks to Emmaus, 

Finally. Deatli mil probably come this year to 
some now present and find them unprepared. It 
has been so in past j^ears. Some of you, beloved 
friends, probably will not see another New Year's 
morning. Every day counts off one more of the 
few days which are left to you ere time with you 
shall be no longer. Every day is as precious and 
should be so esteemed by you as the days of a 
man whose time to die is fixed by the Chief Mag- 
istrate. When I was a youth, a sheriff brought 
into church a condemned man who was to be exe- 
cuted that week. We looked on him with awe 
knowing that he was hearing his last sermon, and 
before the next Sabbath he would be in eternity. 
One sermon is to be your last, — perhaps the pres- 
ent year. Awake ! the work of preparing for a 
whole eternity is yet to be done. Wake up I your 
sun is past noon, and you are asleep. Sleep on, 
and the night of death will soon close over your 
slumbers. A year this morning, I make no risk in 
saj'ing, one or more of you will not hear the Gos- 
pel, and I may not be able to preach it any more. 
You and I may meet this year at the bar of God. 
Next New Year's Sabbath, should we have an in- 
terview there, how true and important this text 
and this appeal will appear ! With the gates of a 
new year the 'gate of mercy stands open. Enter 
ye in at the strait gate. Listen, and the Spirit 
within you says, '' Come ! " Hark, and from Heaven 



A Neto Tear's Prayer. 



37 



that company, the Bride, says "Come!" Jesus 
tells you, "And behold I come quickly ; and my 
reward is with me, to give to every man according 
as his work shall be." May we be able to add, 
" Even so, Amen." 




JANUARY 



Second Sabbath Moekikg. 



< » » 



THE GOSPEL, AND HOW TO PREACH IT. 



And preach the Gospel to every creature." — ^Makk 16: 15. 



WHAT is the Gospel, and lio\^ should it be 
preached ? 
What is the Gospel ? It is a declaration of par 
don and of salvation, secured at once, to every 
one who accepts Jesus Christ. 

Justice demands the salvation of every one who 
believes in Christ. It is not, however, because of 
any merit in the act of believing; for there is no 
merit in believing, which, moreover, is the gift of 

God. 

89 



40 Walks to JSmmaus. 

But He who ordained, " The soul that sinneth, it 
shall die," has also decreed, " He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life," " and shall not 
come into condemnation ; but is passed from 
death unto life." Justice stands engaged to fulfil 
this decree. An act of mercy may involye justice 
as much as an act of vengeance. Thus we read, 
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrig^hteousness." 

This is the Gospel. It amounts to this: The 
reception by a sinner, of Jesus Christ, instantly 
secures for that sinner the presence and progres- 
sive work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, and cer- 
tain salvation. 

Thus we understand the Epistles, which were 
intended as practical commentaries on the Gospel. 
Such is the Gospel which our Saviour comissioned 
the Apostles to preach. 

To preach the Gospel is to acquaint men with 
this assurance from God, that he freely forgives 
all their sins and secures Heaven to them as soon 
as they surrender themselves to their atoning 
Saviour. 

Such is the message with which we are commis- 
sioned. Evidently there is no employment on 
earth, nor can Vv'e conceive of any in Heaven to be 
compared in importance and interest with this. 
It was worthy to be the last utterance in this 
world of the Redeemer when he had finished his 



The Gospel^ and How to Preach It, 41 

work and was ascending into Heaven : " Go jq 
into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature." 

The Gospel is a gratuitous offer from God to 
sinners, of all which God can bestow. In this 
offer is included the work of the Holy Spirit in 
the soul, producing repentance and forgiveness, 
love, hatred of sin, progressive goodness, perse- 
verance and final redemption. These are offered 
without any equivalent in return. Those who 
accept this offer will indeed make returns, v/hich 
will be in proportion to the sense of obligation in 
having everything for nothing; but all their re- 
turns will not, cannot pay for what they receive, 
and God did not intend that they should. It was 
not for the purpose of getting remuneration from 
man in these things that he provided and sent to 
man this offer of every thing for nothing. The 
obedience and love of man are not so essential to 
the happiness of God that he went to an infinite 
expense to buy these. He says, "I am he that 
blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, 
and will not remember thy sins." There is some- 
thing more important in itself, and of course in 
the view of God, than the salvation of all his sin- 
ful creatures, and that is, his ovv^n glory. There- 
fore no returns that we can make to God are any 
return to him for his grace in the Gospel. Hence 
it is a mistake if in preaching the Gospel w^e dwell 
mainly on our compensation to God for his grace. 



42 Walks to Ummaus. 

So tliat if we dwell upon our duty to God as 
the great burden of the Gospel, we do not preach 
the Gospel. 

Our motives may be good, but we are mistaken 
if in explaining the Gospel we make it our main 
happiness to tell men what they ought to do in 
the way of obeying the Gospel. For the Gospel 
is not the Law. The Law is still our duty and 
will be for ever. But if we as preachers are 
mainly occupied in telling men about themselves, 
we may be preaching the truth, but this is not the 
Gospel, it is the Law. True, the Law is our 
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But it is the 
Gospel which we must be continually reaching 
after. The Law must brings our sermons to 
Christ, else they are merely legal and not evan- 
gelical. 

Thus, if we are continually employed in telling 
Christians their inconsistencies and sinfulness, re- 
proving and urging them to seek a higher stand- 
ard of living, ''rise to a higher plane ; " and goad 
them to efforts after an undefined condition of 
sanctity, this is not the Gospel ; it is the Law. 
And if we stop here and do this habitually, we 
live at the foot of Sinai, and the frame of mind in 
our Christian friends will be that of Moses, "I 
exceedingly fear and quake." 

All the things now mentioned may properly be 
used in illustration of the Gospel, but they are not 
the Gospel. There are two different ways of 



The Gospel^ and How to Preach It. 43 

emphasizing a certain passage in the first chapter 
of John. One way is this : '' For the Law was 
given by 3Ioses^ but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christy Such we do not suppose to express 
the meaning or intention of John. But read it 
thus : " For the Law was given by Moses, but 
grace and truths came by Jesus Christ." Gracious 
truth, the truths of grace, are put in contrast with 
the Law ; it is this grace and truth, these truths 
of grace which constitute the Gospel ; and every 
thing that -we say must be only in furtherance of 
this great theme, the infinite free grace of God to 
the undeserving and lost. 

We can make great mistakes in dwelling on the 
duty of repentance and faith in such a way as to 
fix the minds of men on them rather than on the 
Gospel. Christ said, when he had given his com- 
mission to the Apostles, '' He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not 
shall be damned." 

That is ng^t the Gospel ; it is the consequence of 
accepting and of not accepting the Gospel. Are 
we not in danger of dwelling on these conse- 
quences more than on the glorious Gospel itself ? 
For there is a way of telling good news so as to 
make it repulsive. We can deliver a message 
which in itself is cheerful and hopeful in such a 
manner that it will have a wrong effect. 

If we should bid you to a feast but should add, 
" Unless you come you will highly displease those 



44 Walks to Ummaus. 

wlio prepare it, and you may never be asked again, 
and must go without food until the next meal 
time," it would not improve your appetite or your 
temper, and might on the contrary make you pre- 
fer to fast. Even if you had been doing wrong in 
your treatment of the invitation, such representation 
would not have the best effect on you. When the 
king's invitation to the marriage feast met with 
refusal, his injunction to those who went again 
with the invitation was, " Tell them which are 
bidden. Behold I have prepared my dinner; my 
oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are 
ready : come unto the marriage." Here was no 
threatening, but renewed solicitation, because the 
occasion w^as an entertainment and a favor. We 
must not press this beyond a proper limit, but it 
suggests the prevailing spirit and temper with 
which we must preach the Gospel. For there may 
be a most forbidding way of stating the Gospel. 
The mind of the preacher must not be chiefly pos- 
sessed at the time with the guilt of refusing, or 
with the consequences of refusing in such way as 
to make the sinner feel that he is accosted by one 
who carries concealed weapons ; nor is it best 
always to close our sermons Avith this as the lead- 
ing impression, that to, reject the Gospel is at- 
tended with fearful danger. " He that winneth 
souls is wise." The human mind is an instrument 
to be played upon. It requires knowledge and 
discernment to judge how best to bring out its 



The Gospel^ and How to Preach It. 45 

answering notes. "VVe are to persuade men, and 
persuasion requires a judicious use of all motives, 
none of them exaggerated, especially not those 
which excite repulsion. 

In thus explaining what the Gospel is, I have 
partly anticipated the remarks which properly 
belong under the second part of the discourse. 
I observe in reply to this part of the question with 
which we began. How must we preach the Gospel? 

We must preach the Gospel in the spirit of the 
Gospel. 

A man who fully believes the Gospel cannot 
fail to be happy under the influence of his emplo}^- 
ment. It will make him love his hearers. He does 
not come to them saying. Hear now ye rebels. 
He looks upon them as objects of divine forbear- 
ance and of the love of God. He sees before him 
those whom God is ready that moment to forgive 
upon their acceptance of pardon and his offered 
love. On looking over the congregation, his love 
will be awakened as he sees one and another whom 
he believes to be in special danger, or in a state of 
aggravated sin. It will make him earnest, but it 
will subdue his tones to affection, suppress harsh- 
ness and make him v/eep rather than reproach them. 

Also in speaking to Christians, he sees imperfect 
people, none of them having reached even their 
own imperfect standard ; compassed with infirmity 
and temptation, and always coming short of their 



46 Walks to Ummaiis. 

own duty, yet if they have believed in Jesus 
Christ he feels that they are as truly the heirs of 
God as though he saw them enthroned and 
crowned. 

Paul speaks in such a spirit to his Christian 
friends. He rejoices over them as God's elect, as 
people whom God has saved, and wdiom he is 
leading on to Heaven. Paul knew that he might 
be deceived in some of them, yet he addresses 
them all as " holy brethren," justified and sancti- 
fied. True, he has occasion to say, " Lie not one 
to another, brethren;" they were all of them 
recent converts from heathenism, yet one might 
infer from the tone of Paul's Epistles that those 
churches were filled with the choice spirits of 
Christendom after years of Christian tuition, such 
was Paul's love and joy toward the objects of 
God's grace in Jesus Christ. He looked on them 
as regenerate, not merely as reformed .inebriates 
and thieves ; but as the workmanship of the H0I3' 
Spirit. He is a model, therefore, for ministers ani 
Christians in their way of addressing their fellow 
heirs of salvation. When w^e reprove, rebuke, 
exhort, it must be " With all long-suffering and 
doctrine." An upbraiding, vindictive, sarcastic 
preacher, teacher, or exhorter, has not learned the 
spirit of the Gospel. 

After all is said and done, some will resist and 
reject our best endeavors. Then comes the trial 
of one's spirit. 



The Gospel^ and Hoiv to Preach It. 47 

We must be as gentle as ever ; we must begin 
the next time and go forward with our message as 
the sun each day rises on the evil and the good, 
and the next rain falls on the just and the unjust. 

In contrast to this, it is easy for ministers and 
Christians to feel impatient, to be irritable, to be 
provoked, even, as evil doers ; and it is easy for 
sinful men to do as in the time of Moses : " They 
angered him at the waters of Meribah, so that ib 
went ill with Moses for their sake." 

One of the unscrutable acts of God was the 
shutting of Moses out of the promised land. We 
all feel that it would have been an appropriate 
termination and reward of his life of toil, to lead 
Israel into that land, and to have spent the even- 
ing of his days with liis people in their inheri- 
tance. But in his death and burial in Moab we 
who address our fellow sinners in God's name 
have a perpetual admonition to take heed what 
manner of spirit we are of. 

Can there be anything more unseemly than for 
a pardoned rebel to speak impatiently to his fel- 
lows in the name of a long-suffering God, the 
God who, when ]\Ioses prayed to see God's glory, 
passed by and proclaimed it as he did, placing in 
the foreground for its chief impression his grace 
and mercy ! 

When we deal with men on Code's behalf, we 
must deal with them as objects of salvation and 
not of perdition. The spirit of our message 



48 Walks to Emmaus, 

should be, For God hatii not appointed us to 
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who died for us. 

When we preach the future endless punishment 
of the Avicked, we should do it by the side of the 
cross. The cross is the principal proof of future 
endless punishment. 

For ii there be an infinite ransom, there must 
be an infinite danger ; if the atonement be infi- 
nite there must be a corresponding guilt and per- 
dition. As Columbus argued that there must be 
a Western Continent to balance the globe, so we 
believe that the atonement supposes a liability in 
guilt and its consequences corresponding to so 
great an event as the incarnation of the Creator 
and the sacrifice of that Incarnate One upon the 
cross. 

Therefore we should preach to men about their 
guilt and danger as something from which there is 
a great salvation, and thus, knov/ing the terrors of 
the Lord, we should persuade men. 

There is danger with us all that the Gospel may 
not be preached by us as prominent^ as it should 
be ; that moral and religious themes connected 
with the Gospel occupy our mind disproportion- 
ately, rather than that simple message which 
constitutes the Gospel in distinction from every 
other truth. 

Yv'e ought to make all other truths pathways to 
this ; and men should be made to feel continually 



The Gospel^ and Ilotv to Preach It, 49 

that our object is to set before them the gratuitous 
love of God, the free pardon of siu, and to urge 
their acceptance of it, and their heartfelt, grateful 
love to Christ for his free salvation. 

This is the best way to make men moral ; 
whereas the most direct preaching of morality 
alone is always a lamentable failure. Witness the 
experience and testimony of Thomas Scott and 
Dr. Chalmers. 

Therefore to make Christians grow in grace, 
cultivating Christian excellence, we must preach 
continually to them of the infinite free grace of 
God, which they constantly need as at the first. 
But fault-finding, reproofs and rebukes without 
this only exasperate and discourage. 

God himself has devised a way to reconcile 
men and also to save them which believe : it is by 
the free, unconditional pardon of their sins, and 
not by the power of the Law, by love and not by 
wrath, by the obligations of love more than by 
the obligations of legal duty, '' For Christ is the 
end of the Law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth," a passage capable of wide appli- 
cation. 

It is pleasant to witness the ordination of minis- 
ters- of the Gospel for this reaspn: each is another 
testimony to the world of the exceeding grace of 
God. 

He is not a professed teacher of morals, or of 
education, or of learning, but a herald of free 



50 Walks to JEmmaus, 

grace, of pardon and eternal life as a bestowment 
witliout money and without price. But as such he 
is, indirectly, a teacher of morals, and a promoter 
of every good thing in civilization, the Gospel 
being the source of true and permanent advance- 
ment in all that makes societ}^ prosperous and happy. 

His commission is to every creature. " To the 
greatest of sinners, to the dying, to the soul shut 
up in long despair, to the Christian, the back- 
slider, the reprobate, to every living sinner, — par- 
don and the love of God, upon the simple, heart- 
felt acceptance of it, irrespective of merit and 
demerit, — every thing for nothing. 

Such, we believe, is the Gospel, and such the 
way for us to preach it. To every one who 
accepts the Saviour, justice ensures eternal salva- 
tion as fully as it requires perdition for sin ; for 
by the covenant of grace justice is pledged to ful- 
fil the offers of the Gospel. All the attributes of 
God are on the side of every sinner who comes to 
Christ. 

" And this is the word which by the Gospel is 
preached unto you." Every Sabbath ought to be a 
day of rejoicing. When we hear the bells ring, 
we shall do well to feel that they are celebrating 
the grace of God. - If our object and employment 
as ministers were more exclusively to preach the 
Gospel, and the Gospel only in the spirit of the 
Gospel, the Sabbath bells would awaken pleasant 
associations in the minds of some now repelled by 



The Gospel^ and How to Preach It. 61 

them, and who hear them now as though they 
were the bells of court houses summomng men to 
trial or to hear a verdict. 

True, after all is said and done, many will reject 
this grace and perish. It was so always. We 
must not be dismayed if it be so under our minis- 
try. " But we are unto God a sweet savor of 
Christ, in them that are saved and in them that 
perish. To the one we are the savor of death 
unto death ; and to the other the savor of life unto 
life. And who is sufficient for these things ? " 



JANUARY. 

Seconb Sabbath" ...... Aftebxoon. 



-<♦•- 



HOW TO HEAR THE GOSPEL. 
** Take heed, therefore, how ye hear."— Luke* 8 : 18. 

THERE is probably no one thing amongst 
men, of which the influence is more powerful, 
and more important in results than public preach" 
ing. This is the grand instrument chosen by the 
Author of the Gospel to carrry into effect the 
designs of his life and of his death. The great 
commission, which he gave to his immediate suc- 
cessors, the Apostles, who were to establish his 
religion was, " Go je into all the world and 
preach the Gospel to every creature ; " not merely 
disseminate it in conversation or by publications ; 
but convene 'men together wherever you can, 

53 



64 Walks to Ummaus. 

and address them thus collected. This idea is 
conveyed by the original word translated ^'preacJi ; " 
for it signifies to make public proclamation or an- 
nunciation as a herald. 

We are so constituted, that public exhortations 
or harangues addressed to us in company with a 
multitude, and by the voice, and words, and argu- 
ments of a fellow man, have great power over our 
minds. And there is something^ in the methods of 
Christian assemblies which have been in use in the 
Church from the earliest period, wonderfully fitted 
to promote the object of the Gospel. 

There is a stated time, the Holy Sabbath, ob- 
served by the great body of Christendom, for this 
one purpose. There is something in our associa- 
tions with the day which to a well regulated mind 
is of a soothing influence. What is more delight- 
ful than the Sabbath morning ? The mind is pre- 
pared in some good measure by the gradual ap- 
proach of the day, and the cessation, as it comes 
on, of worldly cares and tumult for an attention 
to the highest concerns of our natures. Then we 
repair to the consecrated place, to join Avith our 
fellow-beings in the worship of one God, to hear 
his word. One who has been set apart for the pur- 
pose, and maintained that he maj^ without distrac- 
tion devote himself to the work, brings before 
them those truths of the Gospel upon which his 
mind has been led to meditate ; and being himself 
a partaker in all their wants and infirmities as sin- 



How to Hear The Gospel. 55 

ners, their offers of salvation, and their hopes and 
fears relating to eternity, addresses them on the 
most important subjects that can interest man or 
angel, and I may say, the adorable Godhead. 
The preacher is supposed to make it his great busi- 
ness during the week to draw instruction from the 
word of God, being furnished with all necessary 
helps for understanding that word, and permitted 
to meditate as the great apostle says, upon these 
things, and give himself wholly to them. It is 
obvious that such an institution as this is better 
than any that the wisdom of man could devise lo 
accomplish the purposes of the great salvation. 
The most of men are addressed at times and 
under circumstances most favorable for a calm, 
dispassionate and undivided attention, upon sub- 
jects connected with their eternal welfare. He 
who addresses them is one of their race, inter- 
ested, by his own experience, in the welfare of 
their souls, supposed to be acquainted with the 
various motives of the Gospel and with the waj'^ 
to be saved. The great duties of Christian prac- 
tice, the means of sanctification and preparing for 
Heaven, the way to have promise of this life and 
that wdiich is to come, besides the thrilling 
thoug^hts of the nature and destinies of the soul, 
the Being and perfections of Jehovah, the won- 
ders of the redemption which is by Jesus Christ, 
subjects of surpassing greatness and moment, are 
treated of for the purpose of preparing each 



56 Walks to Emmaus. 

hearer for a happy immortality. Taking it for 
granted that the appointed minister is faithful in 
his preparation for his work and in the discharge 
of it, any one must perceive that the institution 
of public preaching is better fitted to benefit men 
in their spiritual concerns than any other method 
of instruction. We find abundant confirmation of 
this truth. When the Saviour was about to leave 
the earth, what did he choose as the farewell gift 
to those whom he had loved in life and death? 
It was the Christian ministry. This was the 
Saviour's farewell gift to men. When he ascended 
on high he gave gifts to men, — to some pastors, to 
others teachers, for the work of the ministry for 
the edifying of the body of Christ. We know that 
Christ would choose the best means for this pur- 
pose, and we are here told that these means 
consist of the public ministrations of the word. 
And to quote no further, it has pleased God by 
preaching to save them that believe. To some, 
indeed, it is foolishness ; — to them that believe — 
the power of God and the wisdom of God. 

It is very plain, then, that all who are disposed 
may derive great benefit from public preaching. 
It is the appointed . means of their sanctification 
for Heaven. 

But there is no truth more commonly observed, 
and lamented over by the ministers of the word, 
it is of course a matter of lamentation, that public 
preaching is attended with such comparatively 



How to Hear The Gospel. 57 

small effects. I do not mean merely that so few 
are converted, but that Christians derive so little 
profit from an attendance upon it. I invite your 
attention to the means which seem to me after 
long and thoughtful consideration, best calculated 
to secure the benefits which Christ intended that 
you shouM derive from the ministrations of the 
sanctuary. For this purpose I have chosen the 
exhortation of the Saviour, '' Take heed therefore 
how ye hear ; " and in speaking upon it I shall try 
to use great plainness of speech; for it is not a 
subject for rhetorical skill, but of the most prac- 
tical importance. 

I begin, then, with saying that in order to derive 
the greatest benefit from this divinely appointed 
ordinance, the preparation for the Sabbath must 
commence with the preceding evening. I speak 
to your experience when I saj" that your Sabbath 
ahiiost always receives its character from the man- 
ner in which you have spent Saturday evening. 
Some have made it a matter of curious speculation 
whether the Sabbath began at sundown of the 
preceding day and ended at the sam^e hour of the 
Sabbath day, or whether holy time began with the 
morning of the Sabbath and ended at twelve o'clock 
of the same night. It seems to me that any one 
who would ask this question from a desire to save 
all the time that he could for worldly duties, 
would not be benefitted by the Sabbath at all if 
the question should be settled either way. To 



58 Walks to Emmaus. 

legislators the question is of some importance. 
As it regards our private practice it may' be suffi- 
cient to say. that there seems to be no reason why 
the Sabbath day should not begin like all other 
days, with sunrise, and end at the next sunrise ; 
for evening and morning, or day and night, in 
common life are necessary to make one day. The 
Jews had a preparation for the Sabbath, which 
was the preceding clay, upon which, as it was 
unlawful for them to light a fire or prepare food 
on the Sabbath, they made all needful provision 
for the day of rest. The ceremonial strictness of 
the Sabbath is now abolished ; but its moral obli- 
gations are as great as ever. Hence though it is 
not a violation of any special rule to do particular 
offices of necessity on the Sabbath, the nature of 
the day requires that all unnecessary labor should 
cease, and that the mind should have a season of 
quiet reflection before the day arrives. Masters 
should neither labor themselves nor require others 
to labor to a late hour of the preceding even- 
ing. If they say that customers demand it, we 
reply, the vender of ardent spirits might plead the 
same excuse for continuing his traffic. A distinc- 
tion should be made between this evening and all 
others, by closing business earlier, or to say the 
least not by two or three hours' later attendance. 
There are professions we know, which require 
attendance, day and night, and are necessarily 
attended to on the Sabbath : but that common 



Sow to Hear The Gospel. 69 

occupations slioulcl continue longer on the evening 
before the Sabbath, for the purpose of accomoda- 
tion, is a subserviency to that public looseness of 
feeling in regard to the Sabbath to which every 
Christian, and every one who fears God should 
refuse to submit. Some will say that laborers who 
are not discharged till late on Saturda}^ evening 
must be accommodated. I answer, the experi- 
ment has been tried, and it is found that honest 
and virtuous laborers have had no difficulty in 
being supplied with all that was necessary for the 
Sabbath, in proper season. Besides, if men in one 
branch of busiiless set up the principle, others 
Avill be obliged to accommodate themselves to 
them, and in time a great change will be effected. 
But if some still complain that they shall displease 
their patrons ; I have only to say, be not afraid of 
them that kill the body; for Christ has fore- 
warned whom alone you should fear. And if it is 
replied, that greater profits perhaps are realized by 
this practice than on any^ other day or evening, the 
the ready answer to all such worldly calculations 
is, " What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul." I plead 
for no ceremonial strictness in this thing, for the 
Sabbath was made for man ; but it is a plain mat- 
ter, that those who go from the bustle and fatigue 
of the evening or night, immediately to rest, can- 
not be in such a state of mind for the duties of 
the coming day as though they had allowed them- 



60 Walks to Emmaus, 

selves time for the preparation of the Sabbath. 
Our fathers were very strict in this matter ; their 
particularity was indeed in many respects pecul- 
iar ; but their practice of approaching the Lord's 
day by gradually ceasing from their labors and 
worldly emplo3^ments the day before, was one of 
the great barriers against the profanation of the 
Sabbath. Their children learned from their exam- 
ple to reverence Saturday evening because it is so 
near the Sabbath ; and the manner in which Saturday 
evening is observed by individuals and communi- 
ties is an unfailing index of their feelings of rev- 
erence or irreverence towards the Sabbath. To 
derive the greatest benefit from this day we must 
therefore prepare our minds aforetime for its 
duties. 

11. Before we come to the House of God, we 
should always engage in special and earnest pri- 
vate prayer. Every individual should make it a 
rule to be alone with God for some time before he 
comes hither, to ask that the Holy Ghost would 
prepare his mind to receive instruction, admoni- 
tion, and consolation. He should ask that God 
who knows the state of his soul would direct some 
message of His word to him, that either in prayer, 
or in the hymns, or the sermon, there may be a 
word in season for his soul. I may here digress 
so far as to say, it is to be feared that the duty of 
praying for the minister is not fully imderstood. 
It is not for our own sakes that we say in the ear- 



How to Hear The Gospel, 61 

nest language of the Bible, Brethren, pray for us. 
It is for you. A man, for instance, is in the con- 
stant daily practice of remembering the minister 
in his prayers. God hears him. He sees that 
minister in his study, and perhaps at that very 
time He suggests some thought to his mind which 
will be of great benefit to him that prays. The 
minister may not preach at home the next Sab- 
bath ; he may be upon a journey, or at least may 
not be in his study. But something that he sees 
or hears, or thinks of, may be sent to him for the 
especial benefit of that man ; and the next time that 
he preaches, the praying hearer without knowing it, 
has the answer to his prayer. But upon the Sabbath 
no one should enter the house of God without hav- 
ing prayed that God would prepare a message for 
him, and fit his heart to receive it. What solemn 
assemblies there would be, what hearers, did we 
know as we look round upon the congregation, 
that every soul here, even the children, had just 
come from his knees before God. 

A distinguished minister of another country 
was one Sabbath, waited for, for a long time, by 
his congregation, till they grew anxious for him. 
At last one of the officers of the church sent a 
messenger to inform him that the congregation 
were assembled. The messenger returned and 
said that the door of the minister's room was 
locked, and that there was a person in the room 
with him, whom the minister was entreating with 



62 Walks to JEmmaiis. 

great earnestness to accompany him to cliurcli. 
He said that the minister appeared to be in agonj^, 
and used this expression with great vehemence. 

Soon, however he made his appearance, alone, 
but when he began to speak, the hearers all knew 
that it was God with whom he had wrestled and 
that God was with him. If hearers wo aid thus 
cry, If thy Spirit go not with me carry me not 
up hence, and each of them bring Jehovah's pres- 
ence with them, the House would be filled with 
his presence, and ministers Avould cry, '' How 
dreadful is this place." It may be proper here to 
refer to the propriety of a seasonable attendance 
upon the preaching of the word, in order that our- 
selves as well as others may not be disturbed. 
Every one who knows anything of the subject, 
knows that it is highly beneficial to have a few 
moments in the House of God, before entering 
upon the public services, to compose the mind. 
This benefit the^ cannot have who come late to 
public worship. Two great objections may be 
mentioned to this habit. First, it is irreverent. 
In the morning, the congregation invoke Jehovah's 
presence in prayer, and in the afternoon, in a 
hymn of praise. Every one who comes to wor- 
ship, should therefore be anxious to join in this 
service ; and not interrupt it by entering the house 
while the congregation are thus engaged. Secondly, 
It is a serious disturbance to those who come in 
season to prepare their minds for the service. An 



How to Hear The Gospel. 63 

eminent Christian was once asked, How it was 
that she always managed to be in her seat in good 
season. Her reply is worthy to be remembered: 
" It is a part of my religion not to disturb the 
reli<?ion of others." 

In order that the preaching itself may have its 
designed effect, there should be this feeling in 
regard to the minister, ''Send Lord, by whom 
thou wilt send." I mean, that there should be a 
resolution on the i)art of every one to receive 
profit from any preacher that may appear, and not 
suffer any peculiarites in him to divert the atten- 
tion from a search after some spiritual food. That 
our mode of presenting truth, manner of speaking, 
or other peculiarites should be adapted to qyqvj 
other mind, it would be unnatural to expect ; or 
that some are so well fitted to speak to this or that 
audience as to another is not to be supposed ; 
neither would it be far from the truth if we 
should say that in the opinion of some of the hear- 
ers, some who preach have mistaken their profes- 
sion. I know of no greater unhappiness than to 
be obliged to listen year after j^ear to an uninter- 
esting and unprofitable preacher. The conscious- 
ness of being such a preacher to any individual, 
joined to a sense of personal unworthiness, and 
increased by observing the proofs of it in the looks 
of the hearers, takes away all that comfort and 
ease in preaching, which most ministers desire to 
have added to a single, honest, and faithful effort 



64 Walks to Emmaus. 

to serve and please God, rather than men. So 
that it is possible the minister may suffer as much 
as the uninterested and dissatisfied hearer. But 
when the hearer cannot have this reflection to dis- 
arm him of his prejudice, and there are many 
things to prevent his profiting, he should search 
his ov7n heart, and see if he were in a right state 
of feeling whether he would have so much reason 
for complaint. Let him come from his closet, 
with his soul filled with a sense of his wants, and 
with a humble desire to receive some instruction 
to guide him in the way of duty, and he can 
hardly fail to derive profit from something in 
every sermon. A spirit of criticism would be dis- 
armed ; he would listen to a sermon, not as to a 
literary performance, but like an immortal spirit 
almost on the wdng for her last flight, receive the 
message with eternity in view. 

Again. In connection with this I may refer to 
the way in which many listen to preaching, which 
is very injurious to their religious character. 
They come to meeting, throwing the whole respon- 
sibility upon the preacher, of sanctifying their 
souls. Previous preparation is rejected, the ser- 
mon, they say, will prepare the mind ; so that 
they come with an entire dependance upon means, 
as if these would exert a sort of spiritual surgery, 
in cutting off their sins, which they have no heart 
to do ; or by exciting them, and making them 
weep or tremble for a little while, they think that 



now to Hear The Gospel. 65 

improvement and sanctification are making rapid 
progress. Is ic not the general tendency thus to 
rely on means, on preaching, to do that great and 
solemn work of preparing the soul for Heaven 
which can be done only by the private efforts of 
the soul, assisted, indeed, by this and other instru- 
ments ? They make one think of a certain feeble 
and short-lived flower that opens and shuts within 
one hour of the day. It is a bad sign when a 
Christian can grow in grace only in sermon time ; 
and yields himself up, to be wrought upon by an 
exhortation, and without further religious feelings 
and efforts till the next sermon. He makes flesh 
his arm, and is therefore like the heath in the des- 
ert that seeth not when good cometh, but inhabit- 
eth the parched places in the wilderness. 

There is another tendency in hearers that pre- 
vents their profit. It is true we cannot but feel 
an interest in our friends who listen with us to 
preaching, and hope and pray that particular 
remarks, may be helped to their conversion. But 
when we are all the time employed in applying the 
truth to others, thinking how applicable this 
remark is to the condition of another, and this 
admonition, to some one rather than to ourselves, 
we are like the roof of a house that sheds the 
shower, instead of a plant that drinks it in to its 
own nourishment. This is inconsistent with a 
humble, teachable spirit, and must always prevent 



66 Walks to Emmaus. 

the truth, from its designed effect upon our own 
souls. 

It is of great importance how we feel and act 
immediately after listening to the preaching of the 
Gospel. It may be safely laid down by every 
hearer as a great principle to regulate his conduct, 
for it is the deliberate opinion of President 
Edwards, perhaps the ablest and most eminent 
divine that New England ever saw, that when a 
sermon does a hearer any good it is at the time 
when he listens to it. It is therefore of the great- 
est importance that we should guard against any 
thing which will efface the impression just made 
in our hearts. How easily such impressions may 
be obliterated is known to us all. As soon as the 
seed is sown, the birds of the air are ready to 
gather it up ; and then cometh the great adversary 
and snatcheth it away. All unnecessary conver- 
sation should be avoided in going out of the place 
of worship. There is nothing that jars the feel- 
ings of a worshipper so much as to hear a voice 
that is addressed to another at such a time. There 
are few cases in which conversation is necessarj^, 
and in these we should study to be entirely unob- 
served. Who can tell but that by speaking to 
some one who may have been affected by the 
preaching, you may break in upon a train of seri- 
ous reflections which uninterrupted might have 
been for his eternal good ? I once saw a person on 
whom divine truth had apparently produced a 



How to Hear The Grospel. 67 

great effect ; he was going away with an arrow in 
his heart ; a member of the church went to him 
and engaged with him in conversation, which from 
the immediate change in his looks any one might 
have known was not of a tendency to awake relig- 
ious impressions ; and how much injury was done 
to that soul, by that slight inadvertencj^ of a 
friend, perhaps none of us can calculate. My 
Christian friends, '' He that winneth souls is 
wise ; " that is to say. If you would help to win 
souls to Christ you must be very circumspect and 
cautious in your intercourse with them at particu- 
lar times, and at none more so than after God has 
been speaking to them, and when the Holy Spirit 
who is easily grieved away, may be commencing 
his work of conviction in their hearts. 

Of all the suggestions now made there is no 
one, perhaps more important than the following. 
Remembering that all the profit which we receive 
from preacliing is gained at the time of hearing ; 
there should be a solemn and particular question- 
ing with the heart as we go home, and when we 
have entered the house. What have I heard that is 
applicable to me ? In what respect may I profit by 
this sermon ? Do not let this question pass off 
into a vague musing, and sleepy state of mind ; 
but just as if we were to make an entry of it in a 
book, form an answer in the mind, and as the 
sound of the voice in pra3^er helps you to pray, 
speak it out in words : — I see by what I have 



68 Walks to Emmaus. 

heard that I must pray more ; or, I have seen that 
the character of Christ is infinitely glorious ; or, 
I must part with this sin ; or. Use this means for 
the salvation of this friend : or, Realize more than 
I have done what it is for a soul to be lost forever ; 
and in this way deduce some particular definition, 
instruction, or feeling; which you will preserve 
and meditate upon for some time. Then to close 
the whole, and I cannot express the vast impor- 
tance of this duty, or the fearful extent to which 
it is neglected, every one should seek retirement, 
and spend a fev/ moments at least, in special 
prayer. Then instead of a flood of worlclliness 
sweeping over him, and destroying all his impres- 
sions he would secure a deep and abiding impression 
upon his character that would make him a growing 
Christian. What a different face would things wear 
amongst us, if there were only more prayer ! How 
much greater would be our Christian improve- 
ment ; how spiritual and efficient this church ; 
and many we believe would be converted unto 
God. What would be the effect now upon each 
of us, if we knew that every Sabbath, morning 
and afternoon, within the hour preceding worship, 
every member of this church was engaged in pour- 
ing out his soul in private prayer to God for his 
blessing upon his word ; and what would be the 
effect upon the minister ! And what would be the 
effect upon each of us, as he saw the congregation 
separating, if he knew they were all going to 



How to Hear The Gospel, GO 

prayer ; that in a few moments another cloud of 
incense might be seen going up from these dwell- 
ings to God ! What Sabbaths we should enjoy I — 
these different homes thus linked together by 
united though private prayer, and the hearts of 
all drawn too^ether by a simultaneous meeting^ at 
the Throne of Grace. If such a proposition could 
now be made, every member of the church would 
agree to it ; theu let me say to each, in the name 
of the whole, we will thus come to the Throne of 
Grace at these hours preceding each part of divine 
service ; and also when we go to our homes : and 
this we will do not for one day or month or year ; 
but as long as we live. Yes, our last Sabbath 
shall be spent in this manner ; and how delightful 
if arrested by sickness and death during the week, 
to look back upon the last Sabbath in time spent 
in this manner. And if any one of us is ever 
tempted to remit his prayers for one Sabbath, let 
him ask himself, suppose that on Thursday I 
should die ; how would I then wish that I had 
employed the only Sabbath that remained to me 
before my appearance in the presence of my 
Judge ? Let every hearer answer that question 
each Sabbath morning ; perhaps it w^ll abate his 
curiosity to hear preaching which conscience tells 
liim is another Gospel ; or prevent him from wast- 
ing the day in the fields, or in the street, or in 
labor, or at home ; and it may be, bring him where 
his soul may be fitted for the world in w^hich 



70 Walks to £mmaus. 

means come to an end, and that wliich a man sow- 
etb, he also reaps. 

Whenever I see men wastmg the Sabbath in 
idleness, or engaged in labor of any kind, it al- 
ways occm^s to the mind. How precious, how 
admirably fitted to prepare the soul for Heaven the 
Sabbath will appear to a lost spirit. And for one 
Sabbath, it would give a universe of wealth and 
pleasure. My hearers, suppose, that we could 
throw aside the veil that hides eternity ; we should 
there see many who feel thus; and what would 
they not give for a single opportunity like youra 
of sitting in the house of God only one hour and 
hearing the Gospel preached? It is not impossi- 
ble that some here may be in the same situation, 
and how soon we cannot tell. Then improve 
every Sabbath as though its sun were measuring 
off your closing hours of mercy. Christian, im- 
prove every Sabbath, as if on the coming week 
you were to look back upon it from d dying bed, 
and the next Sabbath, review it in the light of 
eternity. Go, at the close of every service, to 
private prayer ; come to every service from your 
knees, and Heaven will dawn upon your souls, the 
whole church resemble the church above and sin- 
ners be converted unto God. 



JANUARY. 



Thied Sabbath Moenikg. 



FOEEIGIT MISSIOIS'S, 



"Who loved me, and gave himself for me." — Gal. 2: 20. 



THE greater part of the permanent good ac- 
complished in tliis world is the consequence 
of love and gratitude to Jesus Christ. It was this 
which made a certain man the first of the Apos- 
tles, the first of the Christians, the first benefactor 
to his race ; and now, while the kingdoms in 
which he labored have perished, the consequences 
of his life, swaj'ed by this motive, are flowing 
abroad over the earth, and were never in such full 
tide as at the present hour. 

The subject of this discourse is, The Power 
OF Christian Gratitude. 

71 



72 Walks to I/mmaus. 

The truths of religion are so various, it makes 
such universal appeal to the powers and faculties 
of our nature, that we cannot assign to any one 
thing an exclusive control over our feelings and 
conduct : but, as the many lamps of a light-house 
make one beaming star, and one element rules in 
them and by them, which is light, so love pervades 
and blends all the motives and affections of a true 
Christian, and makes the chief impression upon 
others. Accordingly, we find that grateful love to 
his Redeemer is the principal thing which gives 
direction and effect to the feelings and conduct of 
the great Apostle to the Gentiles. 

This may appear to some too simple, not suffi- 
ciently intellectual, and wanting in true greatness, 
or at least dignity, to make it the spring of actions 
which have the present and eternal welfare of all 
men for their aim and end. But it is, neverthe- 
less, dignified and great ; it is intellectual, and it 
is in the best sense simple. The man before 
whom rhetoricians, metaphysicians, theologians of 
every school, men in all departments of learning 
bow, was not ashamed to say that his mind was 
ruled, in its highest exercises, by love and grati- 
tude to a dying friend. Such a motive for the 
governing power of the life, none of the princes of 
this world in the realms of learning knew. Many 
of them had each a system of his own invention : 
and among its transcendental mysteries he moved 



Foreign 3I{ssions. 73 

alone, as the moon walks through misty summits 
in the sky, 

** Like the wild chamois on her Alpine snow, 
Where hunter never chinbed ; " 

for their followers did not fully comprehend them. 
In an age when to be intellectual and passionless 
was the chief end* — when the power of abstrac- 
tion was true greatness, and modern brahminical 
austerites were practiced upon the heart to make 
it insensible to everything but pure reason — ^for 
the chief Apostle of a new system to avow that 
the influence under which he professed to found a 
school which would convert every form of philos- 
ophy and religion, and bring the thrones of the 
world into subjection, was love and gratitude to a 
dying friend, was a step toward sublimity never 
equaled. We probably knov»^ but little of the 
derision implied in these few words — " And to the 
Greeks foolishness" — by which this great man, 
casually and without sensibility, expressed the 
treatment which his life and doctrine met with 
from the men of his day. It required large moral 
courage to be deemed by them a fool, and to ad- 
mit that, in the sense in which they ignorantly 
applied the term, it was true. " We are fools," he 
said, "For Christ's sake." ''If any man among 
you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him 

* '' Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the 
Stoic? encountered him." — Acts xvii. 18. 



74 Walks to Emmaus. 

become a fool that lie may be wise." He passed 
through those three natural forms of opposition 
which every good reformer and his cause have 
endured from before the da3^s of Sanballat, namely, 
Contempt, Persecution, and, the most to be feared, 
Compromise. He calmly tells us, " None of these 
things move me." '^ Whether we be beside our- 
selves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober, it is 
for your cause. For the love of Christ constrain- 
eth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for 
all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, 
that they which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, but unto him which died for 
them and rose again." This is grateful love to 
Jesus Christ, and such its power in him who, in 
obtaining mercy, became a pattern to all who 
should hereafter believe to life everlasting. 

That love, the most powerful passion of the 
human mind, should be the great moving power in 
the Christian religion, and in that religion alone, is 
one of the proofs that this religion is from God. 
The greatest simplicity is thus imparted to mental 
philosophy as concerned with the mind in its 
approaches to God; imspeakable relief is afforded 
to the uninstructed majority of the race in coming 
to God, who are thus saved from the necessit}^ of 
philosophical and casuistical distinctions, by the 
perfect intelligibleness and naturalness of this 
motive, and its identity with the highest and most 
pleasureable emotions of which the mind is capa- 



Foreign Missions, 75 

ble. Error is complicated, leads to interminable 
distinctions, abounds in wearisome exceptions. 
Truth is simple ; the laws of nature are simple ; 
the mechanical powers are simple ; inspired lan- 
guage is simple as no other language dares to be, 
or could be, if it would. True love is simple, and 
true religion is love, and God is love. 

In setting forth the Power of Christian Grati- 
tude, two principal things will be considered as 
the secret of that power. 

I. The love of Grod^ which aivahens this gratis 
tude^ comes to us in connection^iuith forgiveness. . 

Nothing makes such an impressioji upon the 
human heart as love made known to it at the 
moment of being forgiven. To be met with love 
when we are subdued with a sense of ill-desert, 
and submitting to merited punishment ; to be 
loved with a love which seems infinite, not good- 
will merely, but delight in us, gives us powerful 
impressions of generosity and magnanimity. For 
it flows bej^ond the humble expectations which we 
had formed of bare endurance with us, of simple 
pardon, and swells to the measure of that love 
which God feels toward one who has never dis- 
pleased him ; yea, and beyond this, for it. has a joy 
in it toward us more than over those who need no 
forgiveness. Such is not our experience in being 
forgiven by a fellow-man. Release from the con- 
sequences of doing wrong, the restoration of a 



76 WcdJcs to Eramaus, 

good understanding, and of the former civil or 
friendly intercourse, are all whicli we expect. 
But we are taken by surprise, on being forgiven of 
God, at the discovery of a love toward us for 
which we can see no sufficient reason, making no 
account of our ill-desert ; nor, which is more sur- 
prising, perhaps, having any regard to our own 
conscious inferiority, but is derived, as we per- 
ceive, wholly from the sovereign pleasure of God, 
who is rich in mercy. So that we find ourselves 
at once strangely identified with Christ, being not 
only forgiven but beloved for his. sake. Our emo- 
tions become too great for utterance, our ideas par- 
take of that beautiful confusion which always finds 
expression in paradoxes ; and we begin to speak 
of knowing a love which passeth knowledge, and 
beino: filled with all the fullness of God. 

Though this is not the manner of man when he 
forgives another, yet we see it and its effect illus- 
trated by a good and judicious parent, and a for- 
given child, who, being truly penitent and submis- 
sive, is sometimes treated with confidence, perhaps 
with honor, or whatever else may have been the 
very thing which he had seemed to forfeit. Such 
treatment bestowed upon a prisoner, or an enemy, 
has been known to bind him to the confiding or 
forgiving party, with a devotion which becomes 
enthusiasm. It lifts us up from the condition of 
one merely set free from punishment to that of a 
dear child ; the relation established is not that of 



Foreign Missions. 77 

an obliged debtor, but of one who has become ten- 
fold more a son in consequence of all which has 
taken place. That best robe, the ring, the fatted 
calf, those superfluities of love and joy, made that 
prodigal, we may venture to say, a more devoted 
son and eminent child of God, than bare for- 
giveness could have done, a hundred times re- 
peated. Not merely for the reason that a kindness 
done to a man under the influence of a great sor- 
row, or a happy change in his condition, makes the 
deepest impression upon him, but, coming at the 
moment of forgiveness, the love of God is in such 
contrast to our fears, it is so noble. Godlike, no 
wonder that the mind is sometimes overpowered 
with joy, pleasure becomes amazement, a flood lifts 
the soul to Heaven, and when it subsides, it has 
made channels as deep as before it rose high. 
Here we see, in part, the secret of the Apostle's 
devotion to Christ, the spring of his feelings and 
conduct as a Christian missionary : " When we 
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died 
for the ungodly." "Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." 
" For whom I have suffered the loss of all things." 
*' I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die 
for the name of the Lord Jesus." " The life that 
I live in the flesh I live by the faith, of the Son of 
God, who loved me and gave himself for me." 

There is one thing more which gives the love 



78 Walks to Emmaus, 

and gratitude excited in the Iniman breast by 
Christ its supreme power over the heart and life. 

II. Every instance of love to Christ is a case of 
reconciled affection. 

We are so constituted that alienated love when 
fully restored, or affection succeeding prejudice 
and hostility, becomes an all-consuming passion. 
The mixture of sorrow in it gives it the power of 
the minor key in music ; a sense of having been 
unjust is like the push of the ocean behind every 
wave of feeling toward the beloved object. His 
excellence is heightened and brightened by the 
previous misapprehension ; there is a constant de- 
sire to make redress, to go beyond the ordinary 
measure of appreciation and love. 

Every Christian is a converted enemy of God, a 
foe disarmed and gained over by kindness. " And 
you that were sometime alienated and enemies in 
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he 
reconciled." The wisdom of Him who knew what 
was in man is seen in building up a kingdom with 
subjects gained in this manner. It was intended 
to be an empire of love, and that love was 
intended to be and to do infinitely more than all 
the forces which control the human passions, or 
which are set in motion by them ; more than the 
love of conquest, or wealth, or beauty, or pleas- 
ure ; more than law perfectly obeyed, even in 
Heaven, had ever achieved. Here is a sublime 
sight, an empire of free minds swayed by the prin- 



Foreign Missions. 79 

ciple of love, and bound by a constancy of attach- 
ment which nothing else had ever effected; an 
empire in which every subject is a subdued rebel 
and reconciled enemy, and for that reason a better 
impersonation of love, even, than the seraph who 
says, '' Lo these many years have I served thee, 
neither transgressed I at any time thy command- 
ment." To whom his God replies with a fullness 
of love, in which, however, a certain quality is 
wanting which it receives by us : ' Son, thou art 
ever with me, and all that I have is thine. But 
thy brother was dead and is alive again ; he was 
lost and is found.'. 

It was this feature in the kingdom of Christ, its 
being built on reconciled affections, which struck 
the mind of Napoleon Bonaparte in his medita- 
tions at St. Helena with great force, and led him 
to say things which no Christian divine, even, or 
devout man has surpassed for strength and beauty 
of expression. By some marvellous power exerted 
upon the mind of that man, he was led to utter 
such words as the following,* which I cannot do 
better for my subject than to quote : 

"How should a Jew, the particulars of whose 

* From the translation of a French tract printed in Paris, 
entitled '^ Napoleois'." Its credibility is attested by Rev. Dr. 
G. De Felice, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Mon- 
tauban, France, in a letter to the New York Observer, April 16, 
1842. Count de Montholon is also known to have related sim- 
ilar expressions used by Napoleon, and these have likewise 
been published. 



80 Walks to Ummaus. 

history are better attested than that of any of his 
contemporaries — how should he alone, the son of a 
carpenter, give out all at once that he was God, 
the Creator of all things ? He arrogates to him- 
self the highest adoration. He constructs his 
worship with his own hands, not with stones but 
with men. You are amazed at the conquests of 
Alexander. But here is a conqueror who appro- 
priates to his own advantage, who incorporates 
with himself, not a nation, but the human race. 
Wonderful ! the human soul with all its faculties 
becomes blended with the existence of Christ. 
And how ? By a prodigy surpassing all other prod- 
igies he seeks the love of men, the most difficult 
thing in the world to obtain ; he seeks what a wise 
man would fain have from a few friends, a father 
from his children, a wife from her husband, a 
brother from a brother — in a word, the heart ; this 
he seeks, this he absolutely requires, and he gains 
his object. Hence I infer his divinity. Alex- 
ander, Caesar, Hannibal, Louis XIV., with all their 
genius, failed here. They conquered the world, 
and had not a friend. 

" Christ speaks, and at once generations become 
his by stricter, closer ties than those of blood, by 
the most sacred, most indissoluble of all unions. 
He lights up the flame of a love which consumes 
self-love, which prevails over every other love. 

"The founders of other religions never con- 
ceived of this mystical love, which is the essence 



Foreign Missions. 81 

of Christianity, and is beautifully called charity. 
Hence it is that they have struck upon a rock. In 
every attempt to effect this thing, namely, to make 
himself beloved, man deeply feels his own impo- 
tence. So that Christ's greatest miracle undoubt- 
edly is the reign of charity. All who sincerely be- 
lieve in him taste this wonderful, supernatural, 
exalted love. The more I think of this, I admire 
it the more. And it convinces me absolutely of 
the divinity of Christ. 

'^ I have ins2)ired multitudes with such affection 
for me, that they would die for me. God forbid 
that I should compare the soldier's enthusiasm 
with Christian charitv, which are as unlike as 
their cause. But after all, my presence was nec- 
essary, the lightning of my eye, my voice, a word 
from me ; then the sacred fire was kindled in their 
hearts. I do, indeed, possess the secret of this 
magical power which lifts the soul, but I could 
never impart it to any one ; none of my generals 
ever learnt it from me ; nor have I the secret of 
perpetuating my name and love for me in the 
hearts of men, and to effect these things without 
physical means. 

" Now that I am at St. Helena, now that I am 
alone, chained to this rock, who fights and wins 
empires for me ? Where are any to share my mis- 
fortune, any to think of me ? Who bestirs him- 
self for me in Europe ? Who remains faithful to 
me ; where are my friends ? Yes, two or three of 



82 Walks to Emmaus, 

you, who are immortalized by this fidelity, ye 
share, ye alleviate my exile. Such is the fate of 
great men. So it was with Csesar and Alexander, 
and I too am forgotten ; and the name of a con- 
queror and an emperor is a college theme ; our 
exploits are tasks given to pupils by their tutor, 
who sits in judgment upon us, awarding us censure 
or praise. Such is soon to be the fate of the great 
Napoleon. What a wide abyss between vaj deep 
misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which 
is proclaimed, loved, adored, and which is extend- 
ing over all the earth ! Is this death ; is it not life 
rather? The death of Christ is the death of a 
God." 

Two of the principal sources of the power of 
Christian gratitude then, are, that the love of 
Christ, which excites this gratitude, comes in con- 
nection with forgiveness ; and that love to Christ 
is, in every instance, the fruit of reconciled affec- 
tion. 

' I proceed to make application of what has now 
been said, to our great work. 

I. The object of FonEiGisr Missions is the 
conyeesio:^' of the woeld, by love, into ak 
Empiee of Loye. 

We say to nations, We seek not yours, but you ; 
and you not for any advantage resultuig to us, but 
because we love you ; and the reason why we love 



Foreign Missions. 83 

you ; is, that God has so loved us ; and beloved, if 
God so loved us, we ought also to love one 
another. We therefore forsake our native land, 
and give away the Avhole of life, all that is pre- 
cious in home and country, simply because we 
love you, and therefore seek to do you the 
greatest possible good, which is, to make you love 
God, and to be loved of him. Scattered among 
you, far and near, behold the graves of those who 
for your sakes have foregone the privilege of sleep- 
ing with kindred dust ! Beneath that tree, which 
is permanently bent as with sorrow by the prevail- 
ing wind, and almost within reach of your tides, 
lies buried a wife dying suddenly in one of her 
missionary voyages, and finding a grave at mid- 
night by her husband's hands, who parts with her 
there, to go with a load of sorrow known only to 
God, and finish his work of love to you. Look 
over yon simple fence, and see the graves of men 
whose youth, manhood, and declining years, were 
spent that they might preach among you the un- 
searchable riches of Christ. They gained among 
you no inheritance of lands, or flocks, or, houses 05 
money ; they carried neither purse nor scrip for 
this purpose, but having food and raiment supplied 
by us, your friends, tliey were therewith content. 
AYe come to you as God the Saviour came to us ; 
he was found of us who sought him not ; freely 
we have received, we freelj^ give, the blessings of 
Heaven to you. All this we do for him who 



84 Walks to Emmaus. 

loved us and gave himself for us. For we are not 
our own ; we are bought with a price. He died 
for all, that they which live should not henceforth 
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for 
them and rose again. 

Could we summon from its heavenly rest, this 
morning, one soul whom we have succeeded in 
winning to God, and behold upon its face the 
impress of beauty and peace which the experience 
of a few years in Heaven have made upon it, and 
hear its little history of heathenism, and of rescue 
from it by us ; and then if its voice should break 
forth in the strains of some hymn well known 
beyond the stars as well as here, we should thank 
God and take courage. But if all whom our love 
has saved should come hither from the skies, there 
would be scenes of love and joy here, which it is 
well for our contentment and fitness for our work 
that we know only by faith and not by sight. We 
multiply continually the number of holy and 
happy spirits in Heaven. At first we heard of al- 
most every instance in which a soul was redeemed 
from among the heathen ; but now these things, 
and certain great events in the progress of our 
work which once would have astounded us, pass 
on without much surprise. So in the day time, no 
doubt, the coruscations of the Aurora are in the 
heavens, great meteors fly there, and constellations 
wheel along the sky, but the light of day eclipses 
them. The sun of miilenial glory is so near its 



Foreign Missions. 85 

rising, that such events as the national indepen- 
dence of the Sandwich Islands, the Bible given to 
one whole nation after another in its own tongue, 
toleration in Turkey maintained for us by the very 
sword of Mohammed, hardly awaken much sur- 
prise. Thus victories of peace proceed through 
the earth ; and, as this kingdom advances, every 
conquest is the conquest of one heart more which 
is forever to love God and man, the opening of a 
new fountain, of bliss springing up unto everlast- 
ing life. 

Let one incident bring to view the nature and 
effects, upon a larger scale, of this enterprise of 
love. Two African chiefs came suddenly upon 
each other at a spring in the wilderness. They 
had been deadly foes, and so had their tribes. 
They looked at each other, and each tli ought that 
some change had happened to his enemy, till at 
last one of them smiled, and the other offered a 
sign of friendship ; and then they embraced, and 
told each the other what Christ had done for him. 
Such is the empire of love which we are seeking 
to extend, glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, good will toward men. Its incidental influ- 
ences are stupendous ; but as the serviceable 
works of God are clothed with beauty which is no 
part of their main design and yet by many are 
mistaken for it, as the phosphorescence in the wake 
of a ship is not mentioned in the ship's inventory 
or plan ofvthe voyage, so with affluent kindness 



86 Walks to Emmaus. 

the religion of Jesus slieds beauty and prosperity 
every where while seeking to promote our spiritual 
good, but which are no more its chief object, as 
worldly minds suppose, than those handkerchiefs 
and aprons which were borne to the sick from the 
body of Paul, were the chief purpose in his great 
commission. These incidental fruits of Christian- 
ity alone are worth vastly more than the cost of 
the whole enterprise, and like the sun and rain 
they are the means of wealth to evil and unthank- 
ful men, some of whom neglect, and others, alas ! 
revile that religion, with its institutions, which 
incidentally gives them their power to get wealth. 

Is not war between this country and Great Brit- 
ian more improbable by her union with us in our 
Turkish missions? By this annexation of Great 
Britain to America, not only without resistance on 
the part of the mother country but at her request, 
we have done more than all the modern schemes 
of annexation will accomplish for the good of 
mankind, should they all succeed. Over those 
waters where the gallant men of both countries 
have won and lost in battle with each other, let 
the ships of the two countries, as they pass, soon 
unfold those words written forever on their flags : 
'' He is our peace." 

One thing deserves special mention, as a fruit of 
this empire of love, because it lies at the founda- 
tion of almost every thing in human welfare. 
The rights of the individual are recognized and 



Foreign Missions. 87 

respected in proportion as Cliristianity prevails. 
Indeed, it is only when Christ is known and 
obeyed, that men cease to be designated merely as 
so many muskets. The explanation is this : The 
Gospel makes every thing of the individual soul, 
illustrates its infinite intrinsic worth, lays vast 
responsibilities upon it, denies the right of the 
church and priest to interpose between it and God, 
and makes each man feel and say of Christ, " Who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." We claim 
that this is the origin of that all-important difference 
in the esteem which is accorded to man as an individ- 
ual in different parts of the earth, viz. : the value 
which the Gospel teaches each man to set upon his 
own soul, and that of every other man. Out of this 
grows the public sentiment that men are not made 
for their rulers, but their rulers for them, and both 
for God, so that absolute monarchies and despotisms 
will be impossible, when men learn the infinite 
price paid as the ransom of the soul. '' This is the 
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which 
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should 
raise it up again at the last day." "Even so, it is 
not the will of your Father which is in Heaven 
that one of these little ones should perish." The 
end of all is to gather together a society of which 
every one shall be a reconciled enemy, in whose 
whole consciousness, forever, this shall be the pre- 
vailing feeling, that he has been- loved with the 
love of God, that his Creator and Redeemer have 
made him their personal friend, having come in 



88 Walks to Emmaus. 

unto him, and supped with him, and he with them, 
making his endless being one hymn of praise to 
the God of redemption. Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, thus ennobling him in his own esteem ; for 
" since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast 
been honorable, and I have loved thee." When 
you think of a society in which the history of 
each individual will contain sufficient, if fully dis- 
closed, to secure the highest love to God from 
every intelligent being, that salvation from hell 
and the possession of Heaven on the part of each 
were enough to warrant all that Christ could suf- 
fer; when you consider that the multitudes are 
without number of whom this will be true, and 
that the disinterested love w hich redeemed them 
has lighted up a flame of the same love in each of 
them toward ever}^ fellow creature, and that in the 
same sense in which God is love, all his attributes 
conspiring to express love, Heaven is to be forever 
a Avorld of love, being the mirror of God, and that 
the accumulating joy and bliss of Heaven are ex- 
pressed to our imagination, faintly indeed, but as 
far as we could understand it, by telling us that if 
when w^e were enemies we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son, much more being recon- 
ciled we shall be saved by his life, and then con- 
sider that the simple object of our institution and 
of our assembly is to people this Heaven, brethren 
and sisters in Christ, fellow-heirs in this service 
and its reward, the work in v/hich we are engaged 



Foreign Missions. ^ 89 

is unequaled in interest and sublimity, we may 
venture to say, in the universe of God ! If there 
are angels by whose hands the walls of Heaven 
were built and its foundation garnished with all 
manner of precious stones, its golden pavement 
laid, its gates of pearl were hung, I would rather 
be the means of bringing one soul to enjoy that 
Heaven than to see my name in burning sapphires 
as its architect. Bat, '' they that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever 
and ever." For if any thing can add a joy to all 
this, it is the thought that each of us may contrib- 
ute to such bliss. The greatest honors and privi- 
leges of' an earthly kind are within reach of the 
few ; but, blessed be God, his empire of love is 
such that every one may make his character and 
influence felt without limits, in proportion as they 
are pure and good. No peculiarities in my circum- 
stances prevent me from loving my fellow men as 
Christ loved me. The honor which comes from 
man I may fail to obtain ; I may be disappointed, 
desolation may waste my earthly happiness, but no 
one can hinder me from consecrating my whole 
heart to Christ, my talents, my property, my chil- 
dren, my efforts, -to the work of persuading each 
fellow-creature that Christ loved him* and gave 
Himself for him. I can go from house to house 
with this love of Christ, and kindle it from heart 
to heart. I can make every depraved creature feel 



90 Walks to Emmaus. 

that I love him because Christ has loved me ; I 
can leave all that I love and go to regions beyond 
the present boundary of Christian missions and 
win men to Christ and Heaven — so free are the 
honors of this empire, so omnipotent is that love 
which is the ruling principle in the heart of its 
King and of every subject. The object of For- 
eign Missions, let it be repeated, is, the conversion 
of the world by love, into an empire of love. 

II. The love of Cheist is our kule, and 

ITS RESULTS TO HiM SHOULD BE OUR ENCOURAGE- 
MENT, IN THE Missionary work. 

The love of Christ is our rule. We love to 
indulge, as the Bible does, in military figures, in 
speaking of the kingdom of Christ, and of the 
way in which it is to be built up ; but we must 
guard against the sternness and harshness with 
which they may insensibly affect our feelings. 
We must remember, as the Bible teaches us, that 
all the conquests of Christ are conquests of men's 
hearts, and that eve-ry enemy of God will be sub- 
dued, if at all, by convincing his understanding, 
and winning him to Clirist. The Book of Daniel, 
filled with prophecies of Messiah's reign, written 
in captivity, and therefore enhancing to the vision 
of the prophet the times of Christ, as the cloud 
that covered Tabor gave the raiment of Christ a 
more exceeding whiteness — that wonderful book of 
prophecy concludes with a chapter which contains 



Foreign Missions. 91 

a benediction upon those who '^turn many to 
righteousness ; " thus holding up to view the man- 
ner in which that kingdom, whose testimony is the 
spirit of prophecy, would be promoted, and the 
reward of those who should labor to establish it. 

Legislation cannot be substituted for love, as 
the primary means of influencing men for their 
moral and spiritual good. Legislation, just and 
wise, is nevertheless one of the chief munitions of 
public and private virtue, nor can we properly 
refuse its aid in morals and religion. But legisla- 
tion, as a means of .converting the hearts of men 
to God, we all know, has been declared by divine 
authority pointing to a divine precedent to be inef- 
fectual. There never was a better law than the 
moral law, nor was legislation ever attended with 
circumstances better fitted to secure the perfect love 
and obedience of men. But in that beautifully 
simple way in which the Bible relates the thoughts 
of God as of a man, this is spoken of as an experi- 
ment that failed, leading the lawgiver to devise 
another expedient. In that familiar passage, " For 
what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the flesh," we have a striking confession of 
weakness even in the law of God, on account of 
strength superior to it in the stubbornness of the 
human heart. But the law of God still holds its 
place, only there is a Gospel added to make the 
law efiicacious ; for the expedient resorted to for 
the purpose of reaching the transgressor by the 



92 Walks to JEmmaus. 

atonement, aims to re-establish the law of God as 
the rule of duty. God has taug^ht us that he him- 
self, with his hoh', just and good law, cannot 
persuade men ; and shall we be wiser than God ? 
We must have a Gospel in our hearts and upon 
our lips, when we have tables of stone in our 
hands ; else the temptation which befell the Jew- 
ish lawgiver, descending from Sinai, will be ours. 
There was truth in the law by Moses, and no 
grace ; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 
Let no man decry wise legislation, expecting of it 
more than it can in the nature of things accomp- 
lish, and then refusing its aid. On the other 
hand, they who rely wholly on the enunciation of 
right and the denunciation of wrong to make men 
just and good, do not copy after the divine pat- 
tern. We hardly need go beyond the ordinary 
knowledge which we have of human nature, to 
illustrate this remark.* To prevent the mortifica- 

* It is forcibly showD even by one of tlie common precepts 
of rhetoric, derived from the laws of the human mind. A 
master in that art, Abp. Whately, tells us, ** It is possible and 
dangerous to write too forcibly. Some,'' he says, ^' conscious 
of having been the slaves or the supporters of such prejudices 
as are thus held up to contempt, not indeed by disdainful lan- 
guage, but simply by being placed in a very clear light, and of 
having overlooked truths which, when thus clearly explained 
and proved, appear perfectly evident even to a child, will con- 
sequently be stung by a feeling of shame, passing off into 
resentment, which stoj^s their ears against argument. They 
could have borne, perhaps, to change their opinion, but not so 
to change it as to tax that opinion with the greatest folly. . 



Foreign Missions. 93 

tion and shame which are the natural result of an 
awakened conscience from destroying us, God, 
who is rich in mercy, and who knows perfectly 
how to influence free agents, comes to us in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not 
imputing their trespasses unto them. He over- 
comes that self-abhorrence, which we project from 
ourselves, and transfer to his feelings towards us, 
by showing us the divine sufferer at Pilate's bar 
and upon the cross, numbered with the transgres- 
sors, bearing the sins of many, and making inter- 
cession for the transgressors. No words of mere 
upbraiding are heard — no epithets of contempt 
stinging us in JDroportion as they a^e deserved — 
distinguished sinners are not hung in effigy — there 
are no life-like pictures of our folly and shame 
confounding us, and driving us to despair ; but 
mercy and hope stand nigh, " lest the spirit should 
fail before me and the souls ^^hich I have made." 
If with grief he tells us, " Thou hast brought me 

no sweet cane with monev, neither hast thou filled 

1/ - 

me with the fat of th}^ sacrifices, but thou hast 
made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied 
me with thine iniquities ; " he does not delay to 



Thus the very triumphant force of the reasoning adduced, 
seems to harden them against admitting the conclusion ; mucli 
as one may conceive Roman soldiers desperately holding out an 
untenable fortress to the last extremity, from apprehension of 
being made to pass under the yoke by the victors, should they 
surrender." 



94 Walks to Emmaus, 

add, " I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trans- 
gressions for my name's sake, and will not remem- 
ber thy sins." He who knows by experience how 
God has dealt' with his will, ought to know how to 
influence every other human will ; and so far as 
we mistake here, we bring our own Christian 
experience, or temper, into suspicion. 

Apply what has been said to one great labor 
which presents itself in our work, the removal of 
that most formidable object in the waj^ of Chris- 
tianity, Oriential Caste. The pride of the human 
heart is concentrated there ; the customs of ages 
are a wall round about it ; the fiercest and most 
virulent human passions stand ' guard over it. 
Catechisms, creeds, treatises, church censures, may 
do their part in enlightening the understanding; 
but there is only one thing which will be to it 
what converting grace is among the means of 
grace. We possess the secret of success. '' And 
he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to 
them, and said. Drink ye all of it ; for this is my 
blood of the new testament, which is shed for 
many for the remission of sins." The spirit which 
dictated these words shed abroad in the hearts of 
Christian missionaries and pervading their influ- 
ence, the necessity of drinking the same cup, or 
rather the willingness to do so, under the experi- 
ence of forgiven sin, and gratitude and love to 
Christ, will at last make a large part of the inhabi- 
tants of the earth, who are now aliens to each 



Foreign Missions. 95 

other, one in Christ Jesus. Divine wisdom, which 
made eating and drinking the method of commem- 
orating the Saviour's death, has prepared the way 
of reconciliation, and divine love will lead into it 
those whom no persuasion or force could bring 
together. He who rose from the table and washed 
the disciples' feet, will, by the spirit which he has 
given us, bring the whole human family to his 
table, as he also will to one fold and one Shepherd. 
In connection with this subject, it is easy to 
understand why truly good missionaries possess 
such a heavenly spirit, why they are every man's 
friends, why they have such simple piety, and whj^ 
their eloquence moves our assemblies as they are 
seldom moved by words from other men. To be 
truly good missionaries, they must of necessity 
have the same mind which was in Christ, loving 
their fellow-men for Christ's sake ; for nothing else 
but fanaticism or powerful worldly motives can 
sustain men in such a work. A truly good mis- 
sionary is therefore seldom a one-sided man ; he is 
not possessed by one inferior idea ; while he has 
his infirmities, and his antipathies, and his favorite 
schemes, he cannot be a radical, a man of extreme 
views, an advocate of measures to be immediately 
and at all hazards enforced, for his work among 
the heathen would soon cure his radicalism or 
drive him home ; but apart from this, true Chris- 
tian charity exerts a conservative influence upon 
the character, and a corresponding effect upon the 



96 Walks to Emmaus. 

temper and manners. How foreign from our im- 
pressions of that great reformer, the Apostle Paul, 
is wholesale denunciation, and the vituperative 
style of writing, insolent manners and speech ! 
'' For though we walk after the flesh," he tells us, 
''we do not war after the flesh." If there be 
men, (would you pardon me if I do not add, 
women ? ) whose spirit and manners are models, 
they are to be found among Christian missionaries. 
Human character has seldom risen higher in this 
world than we have seen and loved it in them. 
Some of the missionary Bishops of the Church of 
England have been among the most humble and 
Christ-like men of all who ever wore the mitre. 
We have wondered, perhaps, at the beautiful sim- 
plicity of piety in the converts from among the 
heathen, and some have thought its flavor was 
derived from the soil. Not so ; but from the 
simple-hearted missionaries, determined not to 
know any thing among them but Jesus Christ and 
him crucified. To them the controversies w^hich 
vex their brethren at home are comparatively 
nothing ; but daily in the temple, and from house 
to house, they teach and preach Jesus Christ. 
Who is to be our next President — which crisis in 
our national affairs for the past half century was 
certainly to be the last — the preparation for the 
blending of parties — the trouble and sorrow which 
reformers, with their more enlightened percep- 
tions, have with their more insensible brethren, 



Foreign Missions. 97 

and the necessity which these brethren have of 
replying as Job did to his friends, '' What ye 
know, the same do I know also ; I am not inferior 
unto you ; " — -the controversy in the newspapers 
which absorbs all hearts and tongues, but, like 
March, " comes in like a lion, and goes out like a 
lamb ; " — all, in short, for which we are disquieted 
in vain, instead of worrying and perplexing them, 
has either the effect of the distant surf which 
deepens repose, or it awakens thoughts of mingled 
sadness and gratefulness, like the booming of can- 
non on a battle-field far off. As they look upon 
their humble converts, with their simple-hearted 
faith, they dread the approach of the time Avhen 
the corruptions of Christianity shall reach even 
them, when the errors and divisions of Christen- 
dom shall be transplanted there, and when the 
love of many waxing cold, which here leads to 
contention, shall suffer the same chill in those new 
households of faith. 

In helping Christian missionaries to build up 
this empire of love, perhaps we have not suffi- 
ciently considered our duty to cultivate and en- 
courage in ourselves, as a Christian communitj^ 
only those things which it will be safe to trans- 
plant. We are responsible to the heathen world 
not only for missionaries, but for a healthful Chris- 
tianity yet to be translated. We are the mother 
country to those young Christian states, who will 
emulate our virtues and copy our vices. As the 



98 Walks to Emmaus. 

surest way of becoming an example to the 
churclies and communities which we are assisting 
to form in heathen and pagan nations, we must be 
imbued with the spirit and be actuated by the 
motive set forth in our text and subject, and ex- 
emphfied by the great Apostle and all the true 
successors to this day. This will be in proportion 
as '• we have known and believed the love which 
God hath to us." He who conducts a public dis- 
putation in the spirit of Christ, he who makes his 
newspaper breathe that spirit, the preachers who 
abstain from unfruitful subjects and hold forth 
Christ crucified, the Christians who by deeds of 
love fill the house with the odor of their ointment, 
as, for example, by adopting and cherishing the 
child of a dear missionary brother and sister who 
have known that great anguish of parting with 
their children for the sake of their work, do more 
to convert the heathen, and confirm the converts 
among them, than all the orators and scientific 
men of Christendom. It is most instructive, it is 
a rebuke to us, to notice what deeds Clirist em- 
blazons, what kind of people he rewards with a- 
place in the New Testament — the widow with her 
two mites, the weeping woman anointing him for 
his burial. Wherever the Gospel is preached, that 
which these have done is by his appointment to be 
told as a memorial of them. A grateful, loving 
heart, with Christ for its object, comprises every- 
thingr which is essential to success in this work. 



Foreign Missions, 99 

Giving ceases to be regarded as a duty, and be- 
comes a ]oj. As certain flowers are quick to hear 
and greet the voices of spring, so there are hearts 
in many churches which are sehsitive to every 
appeal in behalf of a good object, and we find 
that these are hearts in which Christ dwells by 
faith. And, on the contrary, as the mimosa on 
the prairie shuts itself up whenever a horse's hoof 
strikes the ground at a distance from it, so there 
are hearts which recoil and close themselves at 
such appeals ; and how dwelleth the love of God 
in them ! He only who can say from the heart, 
Our Father which art in Heaven, instinctively 
adds, Hallowed be thy name. The more we love 
him and are grateful to him, the more will our 
thoughts and feelings be absorbed in direct efforts 
to make him known and loved, and these impas- 
sioned words of an ardent woman, which Cowper 
has translated, will then express our feelings : 

** O, reign, wherever man is found, 
Jesus, beloved and divine ; 
Then am I rich, and then alone, 
When every human heart is thine. 

** A thousand sorrows pierce my soul 
To think that all are not thy own; 
O, be adored from pole to pole! 
Where is thy zeal? Arise! be known! " 

Having considered our rule of duty, we pro- 
posed also to consider the encouragement in the 



100 Walks to JEmmaus. 

results to Christ of his love to men. By the 
results to Christ of his love, I mean particular!}^ 
the feelings toward him of all who are redeemed 
and saved by his love. Contemplate Christ for a 
few moments, therefore, in his daily life, and the 
whole manner of that life. 

He had the best opportunity to enjoy every 
thing v/hich the world could give. It was no illu- 
sion which passed before his mind on the exceed- 
ing high mountain, though the tempter there 
overrated his own power. What wealth he might 
have acquired ; what realms he might have an- 
nexed to his temporal throne ; w^hat luxuries could 
the earth, air and seas have brought to his table ; 
what a home of love and joy could he have filled 
with all manner of delights ; what a benefactor to 
the human intellect in the cause of learning might 
he have become, by being himself absorbed in 
philosophy and the arts ! O, thou man of sorrows ! 
How different from this was the manner of thy 
life ! He made himself of no reputation, and 
took upon him the form of a servant. Every 
morning, as he regained his consciousness, there 
came over him, no doubt, that shadow which falls 
so drearily upon the waking thoughts of one in 
trouble, before he recollects what the burden is 
which is waiting for him. No retirement and rest 
soothed and refreshed him, except as he found it 
in wildernesses and mountains. We read that on 
one occasion he went down into Capernaum, he 



Foreign Missions, 101 

and his mother and his disciples ; but there is sig- 
nificance in the seemingly unimportant remark of 
the historian, who adds, '' He continued there not 
many days." Love, gushing from hearts bound to 
him by the tenderest ties, did not tempt him to 
linger at their cool moss-grown sides ; but we find, 
in one saying of his, the key to his whole life : 
'^ The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many." To court the favor of others, to live on 
their sympathy in his troubles, or on their smiles, 
to be glad or sad according as he was caressed or 
slighted, was the opposite of his manner of life. 
When the proprietor of an orchard visits it, he 
knows what trees to shake ; he gathers the best of 
the fruits. Here was one, the world was made by 
him, who refused every tree, plucked no clusters, 
forgetting himself, and living only for the good of 
others. That he was not insensible to pleasure, 
we need not say; indeed, we are expressly told 
that it was for the very highest pleasure, for the 
joy set before him, that he endured the cross, 
despising the shame. 

Nor will we allow that Christ, though a man of 
sorrows, was an unhappy man. Does James break 
in upon us with a smiling face, and, hardly w\ait- 
ing to finish his salutatory words, exclaim, '' Sly 
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations ? " The dreamer in Bedford Jail Vv'as 
not an unhappy man. Does not every greatly 



102 Walks to Emmaus, 

afflicted cliild of God, who is resigned and patient 
say that the religious experience which comes by 
his Heavenly Father's discipline is worth all that 
he suffers ? Is he not like one who gathers pre- 
cious stones upon a stormy shore, and like a 
branch laden heavily with fruit, when the vine- 
dresser's knife has purged it ? " Behold, he Com- 
eth with clouds," is true of Christ in many of his 
approaches to us for our highest spiritual happi- 
ness. What thoughts and feelings Jesus must 
have had amidst his sorrows, what clear insight 
into things, what companionship of beautiful 
truths in his solitude and darkness, like a moun- 
tain-top ''visited all night with troops of stars !" 
He who meditated the Sermon on the Mount, 
those parables, and more than all, those works of 
love Vvdiich filled one day after another — was it 
possible for him to be unhappy ? " I am not alone, 
for the Father is with me." And if that to his 
sincere follower is not onl\^ consolation but joy, 
what must it have been to the Beloved ? Never- 
theless, he w^as a man of sorrows, and acquainted 
with grief. For us he was smitten, stricken of 
God, and afflicted. 

Now look at the results to him, and the great 
rew^ard. He is the object of the most intense love 
which ever fills the human breast. Those who 
love him have suffered every thing for him, and 
for refusing to deny him. The slow preparations 
at the stake, the wife and children looking on, the 



Foreign Missions, 103 

amphitheatre and the lions, the sack filled with ser- 
pents, the body smeared with honey for the wasps, 
stoning, and sawing asunder, and casting down 
headlong, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, 
nakedness, peril and sword, only made them re- 
joice that they were counted worthy to suffer for 
his name. Having obtained redemption through 
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, the sacred 
writer, following the intense language of the 
Saviour with respect to eating the flesh and drink- 
ing the blood of the Son of Man, tells us, " They 
washed their robes, and made them white in his 
blood," expressing the perfect fellowship and iden- 
tification which they had with him in his suffer- 
ino's. What noise of a multitude is this ! I see a 
procession, ten thousand deep, moving with harps 
and songs toward a Man upon a throne. They 
will not cast so many crowns at his feet ! It is 
done. O, can he be worthy of all this ? " Thou 
art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
us to God by thy blood." 

" Can this be he who used to stray 
A pilgrim on the world's highway, 
Oppressed by power and mocked by pride, 
The Nazarene, the Crucified?" 

I understand it now. This was '' the joy set 
before him ; " for this he " came not to be minis- 
tered unto but to minister ; " for this he " took 
upon him the form of a servant ; " and this is 



104 Walks to JSmmaiis. 



"the oil of gladness above thy fellows ; '" and '' he 
that descended is the same also that ascended up 
far abc>Ye all heavens, -that he might fill all things." 
There never is to be, there never can be, an object 
of greater love in the universe than Jesus Christ ; 
and this love is to grow deeper, and to rise higher, 
with the increasing knowledge of what it is to be 
redeemed and saved. This living not to one's self 
and the consequences of it have their example in 
him, and he has taught us the secret of it in these 
words, which he verified by his own experience : 
'• Except a corn of v»' heat fall into the ground and 
die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth 
forth much fruit. He that loveth his life, shall 
lose it ; but he that liateth his life for my sake, 
and the gospel's, the same shall save it." 

Three things press strongly for utterance in 
view of what has now been said, 

First. . Every Christian 2:)ossesses that ivhich 
Christian 3Iissions seek to hestoiv upon the heathen 
and pagan world. 

It has great power to awaken Christian grati- 
tude when you reflect. If I am a Christian, all 
that Christ did, all that Christians do, for the 
world, I have experienced. You are partaker of 
that chang^e of heart which lies at the foundation 
of every spiritual blessing, and which it is the first 
object of Christian missions to effect in the hearts 
of men. Whatever this Gospel through the 
power of the Holy Ghost may confer upon the 



Foreign Missions, 105 

whole earth, it cannot do more in its beginning for 
any soul than it has done for you. The whole 
secret of religion, the mysteries of the kingdom of 
Heaven, are wholly yours, no less than they arc or 
can be those of any human being. Redemption is 
not a dividend to which the whole human race is a 
divisor and the quotient your little share ; but 
God is yours ; Christ loved 3^ou, and gave himself 
for you : the Holy Spirit, after that you believed, 
sealed you ; and severally they say to you, " Fear 
not : for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by 
thy name; thou < art mine." Two things contend 
in your bosom for the supremacy as you think of 
this, Gratitude on your own account, and Hope 
for the world. Having freely received that which 
it is the sole object of this great enterprise to im- 
part, and knou ing that there arc millions capable 
of all of which you are capable, you do not need, 
you will not expect one word of exhortation ; the 
power of Christian gratitude in your hearts makes 
it unnecessary to add one word of exhortation. 
If the Saviour himself were visibly present, would 
he need to exhort you? But stretching his hand 
over 3'ou would he not simply say, '' Peace be 
unto you ; as my Father hath sent me, even so 
send I you." Hope for the world may well be 
confident and joyful in those in whom God has 
done all which he has done in you. Did Jesus 
seek you ' when a stranger, wandering from the 
fold of God?^ Was that heart broken, and that 



106 Walks to JEmmaus, 

will subdued? Did all those secret, crimson sins 
become as wool, as snow ? What hinders the uni- 
versal triumph of divine grace ? Take up the 
Apostle's doxology : "- Now unto him that is able 
to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask 
or think, according to the power that worketh in 
us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ 
Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." 

Secondly. It will be a great loss not to have 
shared in the worh of Christian Missions, 

There is to be an hour when the mediatorship 
will be finished, and the sufferings of Christ will 
cease to redeem a soul. Jesus will have reigned — 
all enemies will have been * put under his feet. 
Then the question will be, Who were co-workers 
with him ? All our actions here, even our benev- 
olent acts, will be tried by this — Ye did it, or 
ye did it not, unto me. Life, then, will appear 
useful or useless, according as we promoted the 
ascendency of Christ over the hearts of men, and 
in proportion as the power of Christian grati- 
tude constrained us. Then will come the day of 
praise to Christian martyrs, faithful missionaries, 
parents who parted with endeared children for 
Christ's sake, private contributors whose love 
made their humble gifts exceeding great ; and on 
every hand sights of resplendent beauty and signs 
of special joy among the redeemed will excite the 
question. Who are these, and whence came they? 

But of some on whom the Christian religion 



Foreign Missions. 107 

and its institutions have indirectly conferred 
wealth and honor, Christ will be compelled to say 
that they did not, from love to him, or from real 
interest in his cause, give him so much as the 
value of the nails which held him to the cross for 
them and for the world. The widow's mite could 
have paid for those nails, without which how could 
the Scripture be fulfilled that thus it must be ? 
So that we cannot say that any thing which we 
give to Christ, or withhold from him, is a trifle. 
But think, you that are rich, or learned, or greatty 
honored, how inconsiderable you will become, if 
your name is not identified with the cause and 
kingdom of Jesus Christ. No promise ever Lad a 
more conspicuous fulfillment than this : " I will 
set him on high, because he hath known my 
name." Whoever identifies himself with Jesus 
Christ, the Saviour himself says, (but the strong- 
est faith pauses at the word,) " He shall sit with 
me on my throne." Few, comparativeh', know 
who wrote the Oratorios of Israel in Egypt, Sam- 
son, Saul, and Judas ]\Iaccabeus. Handel would 
not have made himself universally beloved, and 
his name every where fragrant, by those composi- 
tions ; but he wrote the Messiah ; and now, while 
there are hearts that cry, I know that my lle- 
deeemer liveth, and worship him whose name is 
Wontlerful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the ever- 
lasting Father, the Prince of Peac-e, the name of 
Handel will twine itself like an evergreen around 



108 Walks to Emmaiis, 

those adorable names ; and of all who heard the 
sweetest singer of our age, a great part will re- 
member her as mnch as for any thing, for this, 
that she sung, '' I know that my Redeemer liveth." 
Whoever identifies himself in any way with Christ, 
makes himself immortal. You may be among the 
first of your kind in every thing else ; but if even 
the nation and the kingdom which will not serve 
Christ shall perish, what will become of you? A 
great funeral may solemnize your departure from 
among men ; but there is a second death, and your 
name and expectation will perish. No great as- 
sembly in the other world will record their sense of 
irreparable calamity at your loss ; no PleyeFs 
Hymn from angels and saints will follow you as 
you lie down in sorrow, nor requiems speak of 
your return while they mourn your departure. 
"As from the shaft the sky no scar retains," so 
your unbelief and ingratitude will leave Heaven 
perfect in beauty and happiness, its numbers full, 
its separating gulf impassable. We, the members 
of Societies for Propagating the Gospel, we, the 
missionaries of the cross, we, the converts of 
heathen and pagan lands, join, and as though God 
did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's 
stead. Be jq reconciled to God. Appeals will be 
made to you in his name, this year, for your aid in 
spreading the Gospel through the earth. Take a 
gift, be it much or little, but according to your 
ability ; go in secret and offer it to Christ ; make 



Foreign 3Iissions. 109 

it a bond of love and gratitude between yourself 
and him, and so begin to identify your interests 
with his ; in which case your influence will have 
no end, and no spirit in Heaven may be happier 
through all eternity than you. Now is the time to 
be serviceable to Christ and his cause. The cry 
for \^Q Gospel comes to us with every arrival from 
the East ; the God of battles is our King and 
Head; armies are preparing the way before his 
Gospel ; kings shall serve him, all nations shall 
call him blessed. As his kingdom grows, every 
thing which promotes human welfare advances; 
the earth shall yield her increase ; wealth, learn- 
ing, arts, are bringing their honors to Christ. 
Come, for the world is coming to Christ. 

'* See how from far, upon the eastern road, 
The star-lit wizards haste, with odors sweet. 
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode, 
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet. 
Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet. 
And join thy voice unto the angel choir, 
From out his altar touched, with hallowed fire." 

Finally. The sure success of this empire of love 
should influence the plans and efforts of the Friends 
of 3Iissions, 

We should give large room to faith, and not be 
governed by the distrustful, wary spirit of trade, 
but rely more on the Christian feelings of our con- 
tributors, studying the best ways of appealing to 
those feelings, assured that in the promises of God 



110 TF/y/^.s to Emmaus. 

and in the Christian gratitude of every child of 
God, we have a warrant for every plan and ex- 
penditure which sound judgment shall approve. 
For the success of tins work is the success of the 
eternal counsels of God. There are no chapters 
in the Old Testament better suited to awaken 
astonishment than those in Joshua, wher^ the 
Most High directs the leader of Israel to partition 
the yet unconquered land of Canaan among the 
tribes, and the tribes proceed to cast lots for their 
shares. But do they not know that they are 
entering upon the most fearful of wars, a war of 
extermination, in which men are to jfight for their 
homes and the graves of their fathers, and Avill die 
upon those graves rather than yield one inch of 
their soil ? Walled cities, an enemy familiar with 
the ambuscades and fastnesses of the country, 
nine himdred chariots of iron belonging to one 
king, giants not only for leaders but as common 
soldiers, all are nothing to tKis Israelitish troop, 
emerging from a desert. The shout of a king is 
among them. There is no such thing as chances 
of war ; the land is marked out, the lot is drawn, 
the country is theirs before the battles are fought. 
So, thou Church of God, all things are yours, 
whether the world, or whatever is essential to its 
conquest for Christ ! But as the decrees of 
Heaven and the divine partition of Canaan did 
not supersede battles, but nerved the hearts and 
arms of the warring tribes, we should draw encour- 



Foreign Missions. Ill 

agement from the propliecies and promises respect- 
ing the universal reign of Christ, and strive 
according to his working which worketh in us 
mightily. Despondency shall never whisper its 
chilling words in our ears ; for all the events of 
the world, and all the vicissitudes which Ave meet 
with in our work, will only promote the grand 
design. Looking at a distant rock-bound promon- 
tory one morning at sunrise after a stormy night, I 
saw that every breaker with its surf was clothed 
in the colors of the rainbow. It was the natural 
operation of the laws of light, which every one 
sees under the same conditions. But having made 
the discovery, it was a joy which was new every 
morning, when the sun appeared after a storm, to 
feast the eyes with that vision, the sea troubled, 
but not a wave proceeding from it which did not 
clothe itself in beautiful resemblance to the bow 
in the cloud. It was as though the sea itself, 
"the melancholy main," were one depository of 
hidden beauty, proclaimed by every wave that 
lashed the shore. So, I thought, is it with the 
whole history of the dealings of God with his 
Church, and with every member of it. Could we 
but take that glass of faith which is the evidence 
of things not seen, we should behold every afflic- 
tion and trouble, all those '' footsteps " of God 
which " are not known," covered, like these foot- 
steps of the sea upon the shore, with the emblem 
of hope. " Light is sown for the righteous, and 



112 Walks to Emmaus. 

gladness for the upright in heart ; " and every bil- 
low seen by the rising sun has more of beauty and 
glory in proportion to its depth and length and 
height. Courage, then, fellow-laborers, every- 
where ! Receive the hand of fellowship, brethren 
of every name, companions in the kingdom and 
patience of Jesus Christ ! Let the stcrm-bred 
mire of sectarian and sectional feeling henceforth 
and forever disappear ; and let the beauty of the 
Lord our God be upon us, and we, like the ocean, 
its "waves many, its waters one, roll to every shore 
the story of redeeming love. We are building an 
empire of love ; our motive is gratitude and love ; 
the fruit of our labor is love ; our spirit and tem- 
per shall be love ; Jerusalem, our happy home, is a 
home of love ; and there the only song in which 
every nation and kindred and tongue and people 
3an unite will be. Redeeming Love. 



JANUARY. 



Thied Sabbath Afternook. 



-♦♦♦- 



THE GRACE OF GIVING. 



*'— I seek not yours but you.'^ — 2 Cor. 12: 14. 



PAUL had earnest desires and offered earnest 
prayers for the completeness of Christian 
character in his Christian frieiids. He knew the 
human heart well enough to know this, — that the 
giving of money is one of the greatest means of 
Christian excellence ; that the motives and disposi- 
tion and feelings under the influence of which a 
man gives liberally to his God and Saviour are a 
proof of perfectness in Christian character, as 
they surely are. If a man gives liberally of his 
money to his God and Saviour from right motives, 
he is no common Christian. As he who governs 
his tongue is able to control every passion, and is 

113 



114 Walks to Emmaus, 

in his behaviour a perfect man, so he whose heart 
and hand are opened by love to his Redeemer to 
contribute liberallj^ of his propert}^ to the cause of 
religion, is accepted and beloved of God. I ask 
your attention to only one quotation from Paul 
upon this point, and it will suggest others. In the 
ninth chapter of this epistle, he is commending 
Corinthian Christians for their generous contribu- 
tions for poor saints in distant places. Then he 
says, " For the administration of this service not 
only supplieth the want of the saints, but is 
abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God ; 
whiles by the experiment of this ministration they 
glorify God for your professed subjection unto the 
Gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution 
unto them, and unto all men." 

My subject is indicated by the following propo- 
sition : — 

The right use of property is a great means of 
piety. 

Piety is love and consecration to God. Where 
this love extends to all the habits and pursuits, 
governs all the views and feelings, constitutes the 
great principle of the life, a man is pious. The 
difference in the piety of different Christians is 
that some are more completely under the influence 
of love to God than others; in some, certain 
things are not brought into subjection to the law 
of love. Selfishness, or in other words, the love 
of self-gratification withholds one part and another 



The Grace of Giving. 115 

of the character and conduct from implicit obedi- 
ence to Christ. For example, one Christian loves 
to speak freely and censoriousl}^ about others. 
Another is frivolous , another is indolent ; and 
this defect, or this omission or refusal to let the 
law of Christ reach into that department of the 
heart and life has the effect upon the whole charac- 
ter which the imperfect action of a mechanical 
process or of the elements has upon an article. 
The galvanic current has not covered the whole 
surface with the silver or gold ; the dye-stuff has 
not penetrated thorouglily into the cloth, the fire 
has not reached the whole mass, — as the Most 
High says was the case with Ephraim. Selfishness 
or the love of self-indulgence, is the cause of tliis. 
Now there is no one thing that works such de- 
struction to selfishness in a man's character as the 
giving of money to his God and Saviour ; if a 
man will do that, if he loves God better than his 
property, if a sense of obligation and gratitude to 
his Redeemer opens his heart and his purse, divine 
love has penetrated every where ; the amount of 
heat necessary to melt down that crust of selfish- 
ness which encloses his money is powerful enough 
to melt it down to every part of his character and 
conduct. 

This explains the frequent mention in the Bible, 
and especially in the New Testament, of the sub- 
ject of giving. Notice how much the Saviour, in 
his discourses, said about giving. '' Give and it 



116 Walks to Emraaus. 

shall be given unto you, good measure, shaken 
together, pressed down and runnmg over shall 
men give into your bosoms." '' Lend, hoping for 
nothing again, that ye may be the children of the 
Highest." His parables and other instructions in- 
culcate this indirectly. The good Samaritan, the 
unjust judge, the creditor and two debtors ; Zacch- 
eus, the rich fool, Christ's own feelings towards 
the hungry multitudes, and many other instances, 
all show that love expressed by giving, seemed to 
him the fulfilling^ of the law. He was himself 
the ''Unspeakable Gift." It is no wonder, there- 
fore, that he should so much enforce giving. 
This, then, is the explanation of the obvious propo- 
sition with which we set out, that the right use of 
property is a means of piety : — That the degree of 
love to God which will control a man's love and 
use of money is adequate to the entire control of 
his feelings and conduct. 

Such being the case, it is clear that the more a 
man exercises love to God in this way, the more 
he increases in a permanent and settled principle 
of entire consecration to Him, and as every pas- 
sion grows by what it feeds upon, this love to God 
thus exercised rises to a higher plane, till the man 
becomes a whole burnt-sacrifice to his God and 
Saviour. The man that has given his money to 
his Redeemer, gives Him every thing else ; his 
children ; his time ; his influence ; he is willing to 
go to the ends of the earth under the influence of 



The Girace of Griving, 117 

the same love which impelled him to give his sub- 
stance to honor Christ. He prays much ; men 
love him, some of them Vv^ithout knowing why. 
He is not an envious, jealous, murmuring, sour, 
repulsive man ; you never knew a man who loved 
to give monejT- to his God and Saviour, who was 
not kind and generous, magnanimous, charitable 
in his feelings, noble ; in short, as to Iiis spirit, a 
model man. He is a wonder and a praise to his 
fellow creatures. It is perfectly plain, therefore, 
why Paul wished to make his converts liberal 
Godward, in the use of their money, from right 
motives and in good objects ; and we can see why 
such a man, in asking for contributions to charita- 
ble objects, should saj^ to his Christian brethren 
and friends, " I seek not yours but you." 

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, we are in- 
structed how Christ feels towards those nations 
which are perishing, by his own illustrations 
drawn from the lost piece of money, and from the 
lost sheep, and from the prodigal son. If such be 
his feelings, and the feelings of Heaven, toward 
one sinner, compared with the multitudes of the 
righteous; and if the conversion of one soul 
wakes up more joy in Heaven than the thought of 
the ninety and nine who are already converted, it 
follows that lost India, perisliing Africa, and China 
so long a prodigal, must interest Christ and 
Heaven, in some respects, far more than Christian- 
ized England and America. We will not neglect 



118 Walks to JEmmaus. 

our duty to our own continent ; and while we pro- 
pose to give no less to Home Missions, we desire 
to comprehend the whole family of man in our 
love and zeal, so much the more as we see Christ 
preparing the way for the Gospel to be preached 
among all nations. 

It is earnestly to be desired, and partly for the 
effect of it upon our own spiritual interests, that 
every member of the congregation be, intelli- 
gently, a contributor to the great work of sending 
the Gospel to all nations. For, it will promote 
your piety, in these ways : 

I. It gives you an interest in the conversion of 
the world. You will think of Christ, and His 
work, in the vast extent of his benevolent purpose. 
You will look at the world, as you will when you 
are in Heaven. There, you will love China and 
India as you now love America and more abun- 
dantly ; for you will catch the spirit of the 
Heavenly world, and view things on the same 
scale with Christ and angels. Then the angel 
with the everlasting Gospel flying through the 
midst of Heaven, you will follow with the deepest 
interest, and that in proportion as you have aided 
to prepare the way for his flight. 

If you buy one share in a railroad, or manufac- 
turing company, or in a bank, you never see that 
institution named but with peculiar feelings, and 
perhaps read the sales of stocks, to see how your 
small investment is likely to yield. Where the 



The Grace of Giiving, 119 

treasure is, j^oiir hearts will be also. Give for the 
conversion of the world, intelligently, and to a 
degree which will cost you something, and you 
will feel an interest in the conversion of the world. 
Your interest will not be in proportion to the sum 
given ; but in proportion to the interest with 
which 5^ou give it ; and if you are faithful to 
Christ in your contribution, if you give it, as 
though you brought it first to him, or put it into 
his hand for him to place in the treasury, you 
will be an intelligent friend of that work for 
which Christ came from Heaven, and for which he 
will reign till it is finished. It might be the dawn 
of Christian hope in many a soul, it would be the 
strengthening of the bonds of love in every case 
between you and Christ, if you would in prayer 
give your subscription first to Christ. The less 
you are able to give, the more will it interest him, 
and the more will it be likely to affect your own 
heart. 

We need to contribute to this object for our 
spiritual good, secondly, Because it ivill help to 
save from the haneful infliience of covetousness. 
"- Take heed and beware of covetousness which is 
idolatry." " No covetous man, who is an idolater, 
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and 
of God." Unless we form habits of giving while we 
are acquiring, it is as though we should build 
steam engines without safety valves, for the sake 
of economy ; which would be poor economy. 



120 Walks to Emmaus. 

The escape of some of the steam, alone makes it 
safe to use the rest. We must give or we shall 
perish. It is our only safety. To acquire and not 
to give, is death to a man's spiritual nature, as 
breathing in, and not breathing out would be to 
his body. 

Again, thirdly, you contribute to this cause, to 
save you from luxury. With the increase of 
wealth, we shall invent ways to spend it, which 
will destroy us if we do not give much of it away. 

Once more. Fourthly, ive need your contribu- 
tions for their effect on your piety ^ hy tJie princij^les 
and manner of life tvliich tliey ivill create. 

Why did you go into the East India trade ? Or 
after you were converted to God, why did you 
continue in it ? What object did you propose to 
yourself in continuing to be an East India mer- 
chant? You naturally say. To get a living, to 
make money ; to provide for myself, and family, 
and I hope also, to make others happy, and to do 
good. Now what an answer that would be from 
the lips of a young man whom you should call to 
settle over you in the ministry, or go as a foreign 
or home missionary, if the ordinary council should 
ask him. Why do you devote j^our life to the 
Christian Ministry ? Answer : '• To get a living ; 
to make money ; to provide for myself and family, 
and I hope also, to make others happy, and to do 
good." — How has it come to pass. My brethren, 



The Grace of Griving. 121 

that we expect a minister or missionary to have 
this for his first and governing purpose : to save 
men, — and the whole body of the church are ex- 
pected to do this only in an indirect and partial 
way ? Is there any difference in the price which 
was paid for his soul -and ours ? — Did he when he 
joined the church of Christ, give himself to God 
more unreservedly than it was expected you would 
do ? To him and to such like him alone does this 
word of Scripture apply ? '' Ye are not your own : 
for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify 
God in your body and, in your spirit, which are 
his." Is this glorifying God in our bodies and 
spirits which are his, to take out a little sum once 
a month and spare it to the cause of Christ, and 
to feel that these calls are very numerous, and to 
wish that they were fewer and not so exorbitant ? 
If this be our spirit, we need to consider our ways, 
and to think v/hose we are, body, soul, and spirit ; 
who gave us our power to get wealth ; whose ele- 
ments, whose resources, we are using to trade or 
work with. There are some passages of Scripture 
which we need to read again and again : " Thou 
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they 
are and were created." ''And that he died for 
all, that they which live should not henceforth live 
unto themselves, but unto him w^hicli died for 
them and rose again." " Whether, therefore, ye 
eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God." '' I beseech you, therefore, breth- 



122 Walks to Emmaus, 

ren, by the mercies of God that ye i^resent your 
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
which is your reasonable service." " For none of 
us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." 
" So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsak- 
eth not all that he hath, he cannot be» my disci- 
ple." To forsake all that you have is to forsake it 
as yours, and return it as Christ's : it is to write 
the word agent in your sign. When a man's stock 
passes out of his hands, and his creditors put him 
into the store to sell the goods, or to continue the 
business, he and the goods are no more his than 
we and our goods, and all that we have, are ours. 
" For ye are not your own ; " but agents for God, 
stewards for Christ ; and the only question which 
any of us has to settle when God calls for some 
of his money, is, " How much, consistently with 
other claims of a similar kind, will it be judicious 
to give ? All is Thine. God has graciously per- 
mitted me to support myself and family out of his 
property ; I must not say, ''All the funds entrusted 
to me are for my pleasure, my luxuries ; and if I 
can possibly spare something for God and his 
cause, I will do so." This is inverting the nature 
and design of steiuardsliip^ and making the servant 
the master, and God the dependant. Some Eng- 
lish servants being reproved by their master as 
wasteful, extravagant and indulging themselves, 
replied, " We never have anj^thing here below but 
we send some of it up stairs." 



The Grace of Giving. 123 

There will be times, my dear friends, when it 
will not seem to be a hard doctrine, that God 
and Christ should be our proprietors and we their 
faitliful stewards. '' For we brought nothing into 
this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing 
out." Tt is affecting to look at the things which a 
deceased person used familiarly in his life time ; to 
see his garments every one of them, from his head 
to his foot, forsa]i:en, his watch stopped, his very 
staff forbidden him in that last long journey ; his 
seat, his purse, his memorandum book, however 
private, all forsaken; the snow-storm driving 
through the curtains of the hearse which is bear- 
ing him to the cold earth, his dwelling. When 
3^ou shall be giving awa)^ this and that treasure, 
you will feel, if you feel aright, that to have laid 
up treasure in Heaven, to have bought bills of 
exchange on that far country whither you are 
going, Avas after all the best occupation of life ; and 
that what you gave away you really kept, and 
what you kept you lost. 

And when it is said, '' Give an account of thy 
stewardship ; for thou mayest be no longer stew- 
ard," how surprised some will be to hear them- 
selves called to an account for their business 
affairs, when they had never looked upon them- 
selves otherwise thali as bound to get and keep all 
they could, with the exception of that which they 
found it absolutely necessary^to give away. 

And when you receive from Christ that solemn 



124 Walks to Emmaus. 

word ''Well clone, good and faithful servant ; thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things : enter thou into the 
JOY of thy Lord," how you will think, — What is 
meant by being '' faithful " as a steward ? do I 
deserve this appellation ? 

When you see all Heaven deeply interested in 
the salvation of the soul, looking down to the 
earth you have left, as the most interesting spot in 
the universe, and when you see souls 'adjudged, 
one, every second arriving from earth for its last 
awards, how your thoughts will go back to your 
store, or shop, or counting room, and to j^our 
house, and to the church, and to your every day 
life, and j'ou will saj^ What did I live for ? — I 
knew all this — what was my governing object in 
business ? — ^what has become of all I hoarded, all 
that I wasted, all that I did not need for a com- 
fortable and useful mode of living ? could you 
return and be a man of business, doubtless you 
would be one of the most energetic men in your 
line ; concentrating all your powere to prosper in 
your calling, to the end that you might glorify 
God and enjoy him the better forever. How you 
would love every good object. What an interest 
American Home Missions would have for you, the 
education of ministers, the diffusion of the Bible 
and good books, seamen, and especially, the con- 
version of the world to Christ. And when the 
time came for you to determine how much to give, 



The G-race of Griving. 125 

for example, to Foreign Missions, how mucli inter- 
est you would take in adding up your gains, to 
take the proper percentage for this cause, and if 
the percentage exceeded your expectations, how 
your heart would swell with joy, and you would 
say. If God would give me larger increase, so 
much greater would be my joy in paying his prop- 
erty in his name to his cause. All the while you 
would remember that you are going back soon to 
Heaven; that 3'ou have no continuing city here, 
nor abiding place ; and you expect that one of 
your chief joys in Heaven vrill be to see those for 
whose salvation vou have lived and labored and 
prayed. 

Now the only difference in the two cases is, 
that you are going' to Heaven, instead of having 
bee7i already there ; and seeing that ye look for 
such things, knowing, as you do, substantially, 
what views you would probably take in Heaven 
of life, what manner of persons ought ye to be in 
all holy conversation and Godliness ? 

Givini^ monev to God and the Saviour is one of 
the most solemn duties which a Christian ever per- 
forms. It made Solomon illustrious ; it rebuilt 
the temple, when the tithes came in ; it immortal- 
ized a poor widow ; it made the church at Corinth 
famous in all the world. Withholding money from 
God is an equally solemn and awful thing. It 
destroj^ed Aclian ; Saul's ruin began when he 
spared the chief spoU of Amalek ; it sent Ananias 



126 Walks to JEmmaus, 

and Sapphira to a dreadful doom ; and Demas 
went from the apostle's company to perish with 
the world that he loved more than Gocl. Giving 
money to God tests all our Christian principles, 
lays the axe at every root of selfishness; shows 
how much and in what manner we love Christ ; 
and brings out to his own view, and before Christ, 
a man's governing purpose. 

And now in conclusion, I ask only one thing : — 
Let your subscriptions be subscriptions, as it were, 
to these words : " Of Thine own have ive given 
TheeT Imagine those words as heading the paper 
on which you write your subscriptions, and let 
your offering be the acknowledgment that you and 
all you have, are not your own. Thus our mo- 
tives and feelings and conduct will all be right, if 
with entire consecration and love we may but say 
to him that made us and died for us, " Of Thine 
own have we given Thee." If Christ would 
speak to us before we begin, we can imagine with 
what love he would utter, and what an infinitude 
of grace and truth there would be in the words, 
" I seek not yours but you." 



JANUARY 



FouETH Sabbath . Morking. 



•4^¥- 



MAN m RUINS. 

** — And the ruin of that house was great." — Luke 6: 49. 

A HOUSE in ruins is a melancholy sight. The 
place which has been a home cannot meet 
with calamity and be destroyed, without stirring 
within us feelings of lively interest and sympathy ; 
for we attach a degree of sacredness to a habita- 
tion which has been a home, and the exposure of 
its secret retreats and the destruction of such a 
sanctuary does violence to our feelings. Apart 
from the value of the structure, the ruined house 
is an interesting object which no one can pass, 
without stopping to mourn for it. 

I will take you to see a house on which great 
ruin has descended. But I will first give an ac- 
count of it. 

127 



128 Walks to Emmaus, 

I. This house was built by God's own hands. 
He made it out of the dust of the earth. After 
he had made the earth itself, and the sun, moon 
and stars, and the flowers, and fruits, the trees 
and every thing that grows out of the earth, and 
birds and beasts of every form and name, and thus 
would seem to have exhausted his resources, he 
built this house, and it was the noblest of all the 
works of his hands. He did not leave its con- 
struction to the hands of others, but we are ex- 
pressly told that God made it with his own hands 
out of the dust. In the image of God created 
He him. One would have supposed that the 
Maker of all things in Heaven, earth and seas 
would have spent the whole of his skill upon 
such things as the works of nature, but he 
reserved his most perfect and wonderful work to 
the last; and that was the house of which we 
speak. Other things he made by a word ; he spake 
and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. 
Even light was created by a mere word. " Let 
there be light, — And there was light." But this 
house, Ave are informed, was made by the Divine 
builder of some material implying contrivance and 
effort and mechanism. 

II. This house was wonderfully contrived. 

No other structure in nature was ever like it in 
the number of its parts, their wonderful adapted- 
ness to great purposes, or in the beautj^ of its plan 



Man ill Ruins, 129 

-# 
and finish. All wlio saw it testified that while it 
was the last, it was also the most astonishing of 
all the works of God. It was competent, more 
than an}^ other structure, to be the abode of a 
superior creature with whom God himself de- 
sio^ned to dwell in a sense in which he did not and 
could not have communion with any other of his 
earthly works. Of its inhabitant, indeed, he once 
said, "I will come in to him, and will sup with 
him, and he with me." It was no common thing 
which could be capable of such high honor, 
"builded together for an habitation of God 
through the Spirit." 

III. It was richij^ furnished. 

Its exterior, though of commanding beauty and 
richness was surpassed by the interior where the 
power of God had exercised itself. There were 
things within, which no organization of matter in 
any other form contained, and indeed the image of 
God himself was said to be repeated in it, for the 
builder himself said, '' In the image of God cre- 
ated he it," so that all who studied it, had a bet- 
ter idea of God himself than from all his works 
beside. How many pleasant things it contained, 
what curious designs, what beauty of execution, 
what wonderful variety, what durability of parts 
and of the whole, what capability of improvement 
without alteration of the main design, were be- 
stowed upon it, time would fail to describe ; but 
one said of it, and he expressed the truth, in most 



130 Walks to Emmaus, 

appropriate words : '• It is fearfully and wonder- 
fully made." 

IV. It was made with its inhabitant for immor- 
tality. 

Decay was no part of the Creator's plan ; possi- 
bly some transformation might have taken place in 
process of time, but only to enhance its original 
beauty, and make it more capacious for the wants 
of the inhabitant, wdio was incapable of death. 
He, like his maker, could say, " Of my years there 
is no end," and in fearful resemblance to Him also 
with regard to causing destruction, it was true 
that he inhabiteth eternity. Consider how great 
this house must have been which was contrived 
for the habitation of such a being ; and that its 
builder and maker was God who made it for his 
own everlasting joy, and when he made it the 
morning stars sang together and he, himself, pro- 
nounced it, very good. 

But we come now to contemplate this house 
under different circumstances. 

V. Ruin has fallen upon it and upon its inhabitant. 
It stands, but it is ruined. A house may be 

ruined and yet stand. But it is to fall, and its 
inhabitant is likely to perish with it. 

Its form and features, its curious things will fall 
into the dust, irretrievably destroyed, an emblem 
and counterpart of the more fearful ruin which 
will come upon its inhabitant. The house which 
God ordained for His own blessed and blissful 



Man in Ruins. 131 

presence, capable of more than tongue can express 
will come to naught and only suggest the idea of 
dissolution and misery. O sad spectacle ! Who 
or what was the occasion of this ruin ? 

VI. Its inhabitant has rebelled against God. 
Not satisfied with all which God had done for 

him, in a moment of temptation he lusted after a 
forbidden gratification concerning which God had 
said, " In the day that thou eatest thereof thou 
shalt surely die." Then he forsook God and loved 
and served the creature more. The threatened 
penalty descended, and death took possession of 
him, and now by a slow process destruction is 
coming upon him. There was no reason for this 
rebellion. The character of God was unchanged. 
Blessings were innumerable, and all satisfying. 
Nothing was withheld which could be regarded as 
any better than that which was bestowed. Or if 
otherwise, it was infinitely better to have the favor 
and friendship of God ; which, however, was 
thrown away in a most foolish manner, as one did 
who for a morsel of bread sold his birth-right. 
The consequences were fully foreseen, but in an 
evil hour the inhabitant forsook the fountain of liv- 
ing water and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns 
that could hold no water. 
But strange to say, 

VII. God has used vast pains to repair and 
save this house. 

His soul was penetrated with the deepest grief 



132 Walks to Ummaus. 

when he saw that ruin had befallen a world. But 
here was a case of deliberate and unprovoked in- 
gratitude. Every thing had been done for man. 
He had been granted dominion over every thing. 
God himself in immediate converse Avalking in the 
garden brought the creatures to him in their 
beauty and the luxuriance of their joy in such a 
world as he had given them. God was to super- 
intend his education and train him up for glory. 
Of course there was exceeding grief. So it is 
said, " And it repented the Lord that he had made 
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." 

But such was the compassion and love of God 
that he resolved if possible to repair this house 
and save its occupant. How shall I give them 
up? How shall I deliver them? My heart is 
turned within me, my repentings are Idndled 
together. 

Then if it be possible for you to believe so 
strange a thing, the Son of God himself came 
down on a special mission, yes, for no other pur- 
pose but to repair this house and save its occupant. 
Such love and pity were never shown as he ex- 
pressed. It is said that once as he was coming 
over the Mount of Olives, the thought of the ruin 
which had befallen came over him and he wept. 
He wept I 

** The Son of God in tears 
Angels astonished see." — 



Man in Ruins. 133 

And the object of these tears might have said, but 
he did not, '' Be thou astonished, O ye heavens at 
this and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate." 

But more incredible than anything which has 
been. said. The occupant of this house refused him 
admission. He atood at this house, and the house 
was made by him, but the house kncAV him not. 
He came to his own and his own received him not. 

Oftentimes he was seen standing at the door 
and knocking and waiting to get in. And as they 
j)assed by, many heard his voice, a voice — how 
can it be described ! — for never man spake like 
him, and they heard him sa}^ '' Behold I stand at 
the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, 
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me." Surely nothing 
could surpass this. And yet in times of darkness 
and when it seemed as though the house would be 
destroyed if too heavy a storm should beat upon 
it, that same voice was heard in accents of the 
most tender affection and entreaty : — Open to me, 
my beloved ; for my locks are wet with the dews 
of the night. But all was in vain. He could not 
gain an entrance. And he died in pursuit of his 
object. Yes, his love and his efforts in this behalf 
cost him his life. But what will you say if I tell 
you that this inhabitant himself, the occupant of 
this mansion which God made and endowed, pro- 
cured His death and was himself His murderer ? 
Yes he crucified Him ; he nailed Him to the tree ; 



134 Walks to Eramaus, 

and as He died, still He prayed, '' Father, forgive ;" 
— but O, this monster in wickedness never re- 
lented. 

What did the Lord of this mansion do ? You 
say, He sent His lightnings and they consumed this 
dwelling and its inhabitant; th,ey made him a 
burnt sacrifice, with his house for an altar, and the 
wood of it consumed him. You are wrong ; 
greater marvels of love and mercy are yet to be 
told. 

There came to that house after-ward something 
like a dove ; it was the Holy Spirit ; and entered 
into that dwelling. The House which did not 
open its doors to receive the Son of God, could 
not prevent this dove from gaining admittance, 
and those who savv^ and heard what passed there 
tell us that nothing ever exceeded it ; for some- 
times they heard strivings there between this Holj^ 
Spirit and tliis inhabitant ; Yes, they were striv- 
ing ; on the part of the Spirit there was earnest- 
ness, conjuring, adjuring, beseeching, entreating, 
warning, remonstrating, all in tones of love, and 
most subduing love. He told him of his sins 
against God, of God's goodness, — ingratitude, — 
of Christ's love, of the guilt contracted by His 
death, of the just condemnation and punishment 
due for such sins, and yet that God was even now 
wdlling to forgive and save ; that the house should 
be fully repaired, and cleaned and beautified, and 
made a habitation of God through the Spirit; 



Man in Ruins, 135 

nay, that the Holy Trinity of Heaven would come 
there. He set before him the fearful ruin which 
would come upon him remaining in his present 
state. 

All this was received with feelings — sometimes 
and for the most part with indifference, then with 
scorn, then with strong opposition and violent 
effort to do something to drive away this blessed 
visitant from the house. '' O if he would but 
begone and leave me alone ! Depart from me ! " 

At last He did -depart. He made no sign; ut- 
tered no threat; but on a certain occasion this 
inhabitant did something which grieved Him ; it 
grieved Him exceedingly, and He spread His wings, 
and returned to the bosom of the Father and of 
the Son. 

All will confess that from the beginning, God 
had done everything. He made him, and would 
have redeemed and saved him. Yes, even when 
this transgressor had crucified the Lord of glory, 
even then mercy hovered over him ; and would 
have gathered him as a hen gathereth her chickens 
under her wings, and he would not. 

Of course, you are prepared to hear that ruin at 
last befell this house and this inhabitant ; and so 
it came to pass. There came a blast from the 
Almighty and it fell, and as it fell the inhabitant 
was whirled out of it by some invisible power and 
was conveyed awa)^ every one thought, to some 
dreadful doom. They who caught a sight of his 



136 Walks to Ummaus. 

face as he passed out, said that such woe and 
anguish was never before seen. He was driven 
away in his wickedness, and the house fulfilled the 
saying, Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

Years passed by, and strange to relate on the 
spot where this house fell, there rose up a struct- 
ure without hands. It had some resemblance to 
the former mansion ; but it was more like a fur- 
nace of fire than any thing else ; its appearance 
was liideous and terrific ; flames issued from it, yet 
it. was not consumed; darkness, fire and smoke, 
seemed at times in possession of it, yet it had all 
the form and appearance of the old house. And 
behold the former occupant approached ; Alas ! 
it was he, but one might have said to him as the 
seraph did to Satan whom he had known in 
Heaven, " If thou beest he, but O how changed !" 
He came ; his face looked as though he had suf- 
fered, and suffered long ; there were signs of 
growth in his expression as though his powers and 
faculties had advanced, he seemed superior in that 
respect to his former self; but everything about 
him bespoke the convict, —the prisoner, — the 
felon, — the captive, — the victim of despair. He 
was in the hands of fallen angels, devils; they 
went before him, they came behind him, they sur- 
rounded him ; and he entered into his old dwell- 
ing. But shall I undertake to tell you what a 
shriek there issued from that dwelling, so that the 
fiends shrunk back ashamed ? Shall I describe the 



Man 171 Ruins, 137 

sensation of this unhappy creature as he was re- 
minded of the original glory and beauty of that 
mansion, his former pleasures, and advantages 
there ; and the thought of his \^ ickedness there, 
and more than all, of his treatment of the Son of 
God, and how he delivered Him to death, and did 
not relent ; and especially, how the blessed Spirit 
strove with him; — what memories of conviction, 
entreaty, and of that hour of His departure, over- 
whelmed him ; and where he had been these long 
centuries, and that his condition now is to be 
worse than ever? O how he curses himself, and 
his folly, and his God ; and in the midst of it, that 
dwelling, if such it may be called, rises and is 
borne away, and its inhabitant as by a wind, and is 
seen no more. 

Look back and recall what was said of the 
house in its first condition, and think of it now, 
and say if these words of Jesus respecting it are 
not verified? — "And the ruin of that house was 

great." * 

Consider what has been said, O inhabitant of 
the earthlv house of this tabernacle, and make 
haste. A storm may at any hour rise and beat 
upon you. Open j^our door ; admit the Maker, 
and the Redeemer, and the Purifier of your nature 
to come in this very day. Let them come in. 
When you lock your door to-night, ask yourself, 
Are they within ? or is Christ without, and have I 
locked the door upon him again ? O will you not 



138 Walks to Emmaus, 

open your door now to the Lord your God, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ? 

When Titus, the Roman general, at last entered 
Jerusalem, astonished at its defences he said, * 'Un- 
less God had helped us, man never had taken this 
city." But it is credibly related that signs and 
wonders appeared in Jerusalem before the city was 
taken. It was the expiring cry of the theocracy, 
the giving up the G host by all of those wonderful 
signs of God's presence. It is said that a voice 
was heard in the temple, saying, '' Let us go 
hence." — You know what happened to Jerusalem 
in its siege and destruction, — the dispersion of its 
people to this day. " Let us go hence," said the 
God of Zion, the Redeemer of Israel, the 
Heavenly Dove. O if you refuse to receive and 
entertain them, soon they will say of you^ " Let us 
go hence ! " Stay, O stay. Heavenly Mercy ; this 
day, after so long a time, he will repent ! strive 
once more, O Heavenly Spirit ; knock once more, 
long-suffering Saviour ; knock with thy wounded 
hand ; and on these feet which bore the nail for 
him on the cross, stand and wait this day. It may 
be he will hear, surrender his mansion to thee, and 
become indeed, a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. 



JANUARY. 
Fourth Sabbath ArTERNOOisr. 



-♦♦^ 



AN ALMIGHTY SxiVIOUR FOR EVERY SINNER. 

"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost 
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for them." — Heb. 7: 25. 

MORE than eighteen hundred years ago a 
death took place in Judea on a hill called 
Calvary which, itself considered, and viewed as to 
its consequences, is the greatest event of which we 
have any knowledge. Three victims were dj'ing 
on three crosses. Two of them were thieves, and 
in other respects malefactors, for crucifixion was 
inflicted only for great crimes. Between them a 
mysterious being bows his head, crying with a 
loud voice, and gives up the ghost. And the vail 
of the temple was rent from the top to the bot- 
tom, and the sun was darkened, and the earth 
quaked, and the rocks rent, and many bodies of 
them that slept arose. 

139 



140 Walks to Emmaus. 

The death of this mysterious being was foreseen 
and described by the prophet Isaiah eight hundred 
years before it took place, and was thus men- 
tioned : '' He hath poured out his soul unto death, 
and he was numbered with the transgressors, and 
he bare the sins of many, and made intercession 
for the transgressors." 

The world has received one impression with 
regard to the object of this death ; for they who 
regard it differently are very few compared with 
the vast majority of the human race who agree in 
receiving the testimony of the Bible in its literal 
representations of this event as an expiatory sacri- 
fice, a propitiation for sin, a ransom. " He gave 
himself a ransom for many." '' He is the propitia- 
tion for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the 
sins of the whole world." '' Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 

Two great truths are specially revealed to us 
and frequently reiterated in connection with the 
announcement of the way to be saved. One is, 
that none can be saved except in this way. 
"Neither is their salvation in any other." "^ The 
other is, All may be saved in this way. This lat- 
ter is the truth which is brought to view in the 
text, — '^ Wherefore he is able also to save them to 
the uttermost that come unto God by him.'' 

There may be some doubt which of two mean- 
ings we are to give to the words '' to the utter- 

*Acts 4: 12. 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 141 

most." Does it mean he is able to save all who 
come to God by him, — the uttermost of them : or 
does it mean that he will save them \\ holly, give 
them a complete salvation ? Perhaps the ambig- 
uity was intentional, for it is certain that both 
meanings are true. I shall take the words in both 
senses indiscriminately. 

I shall endeavor in this discourse to illustrate 
this truth: There is an Almighty Saviour for 
every sinner. 

There is one exception. The true saying is, 
that an exception proves the rule. He that utters 
blasphemous words against the Holy Ghost hath 
never forgiveness, neither in this world, neither in 
the world to come. In order to commit this 
sin, words must be spoken against the Holy 
Ghost. Surely he is a person. Surely he is a 
Divine person. Surelj^ he has the prerogative of 
God. But with this exception all manner of sins 
shall be forgiven to men and blasphemies where- 
withsoever they shall blaspheme. 

This truth is so familiar to us that we overlook 
its surprising greatness. Who is this that can 
save all men ? He that can save a fellow being 
from temporal death does a great work. He that 
can relieve a family or a neighborhood from fam- 
ine or distress of any kind does a deed of no ordi- 
nary importance. But of Christ it is said, "He 
is the Saviour of all men." '' He died for all that 
they which live should not live unto themselves, 



142 Walks to Emmaus. 

but unto him that died for them and rose again." 
" And he is the propitiation for our sins and not 
for ours only but for the sins of the whole world." 
— He saves them not from famine, or from the 
death of the body, but from everlasting misery. 
He redeems them to God out of every kindred 
and tongue and people and nation. He has al- 
ready saved a multitude which no man can num- 
ber, and there are multitudes yet, beyond all our 
computation who will be the fruit of his death. 

Among these there are of course great sinners 
beyond the ordinary measure of human guilt. 
Saul of Tarsus is an illustration. There are no 
simiers to be saved hereafter whose guilt is greater 
than that which has already been forgiven. Re- 
cite every form of iniquity, aggravate the descrip- 
tion by every possible circumstance of shame and 
woe, let the transgressors be parents destroying 
their children, or children destroying their parents, 
or brothers or sisters imbruing their hands in fra- 
tricide, or husbands and wives taking the lives of 
their companions ; multiply the years in which 
these sins remained unsuspected, and unforgiven ; 
or let the nature of the sin be of the lowest de- 
basement and brutality ; in short, picture any form 
or degree or continuance of guilt and shame, and 
there are those in that blood-bought, white-robed 
throng to whom it may be said '' And such were 
some of you ; but ye are washed, but ye are justi- 
fied, but ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 143 

Jesus. For the sake of illustration, we will say there 
is the betra3^er and murderer of a fallen being whom 
he beguiled into a lurking place, and sprang upon 
him and sent him without a moment's warning to 
the bar of God. To make the case as bad as pos- 
sible we will imagine the victim to have been one 
of the worst of men concerning whose salvation 
there could be no reasonable hope, and that such 
an one was consigned by the hands of an assassin 
to a hopeless eternity. Take this harshly imag- 
inary picture ; it is a case which in all its particu- 
lars is not in the nature of things an impossibility. 
Look now upon such a murderer, go into his cell, 
take the Bible with you, and read this Hebrews 
7 : 25. Would you feel that those words are a 
mockery, that they have no pertinency in such a 
case? 

Some would say, perhaps all would feel. It 
would be unjust to forgive and save such a sinner, 
especially if he had been the means of ruining a 
human spirit in all its interests for eternity. If 
we put this case on the ground of retributive jus- 
tice we must say it would be unjust ; — but let us 
remember that God can be just, and the justifier of 
him that belie veth in Jesus. How then could 
such a murderer be saved ? 

Not, I answer, on the ground of repentance. It 
seems to me that this case is a complete refutation 
of the doctrine that a man can be saved for his 
repentance alone. Reparation he cannot make. 



144 Walks to Ummaiis. 

That life wliich he betrayed he cannot recall. 
Suppose him to be sorry and to repent , is there 
any merit in being sorry and in repenting ? Can 
this atone for sin, to forgive a sin ? Suppose him 
to spend every remaining hour of his life in bitter 
wailing, refusing to be comforted and longing for 
the day to come when he shall offer up his life, as 
an atonement for his sin. Is that a compensation 
for his iniquity ? Can murderers destroy your 
fathers and husbands and brothers, and then wash 
away their sins by tears, burning tears, nay, tears 
of blood, if they could shed them ? But the mur- 
derer will give his life 'as an atonement. Sis life, 
his miserable life ! — ^is that an equivalent for the 
life of a happy, innocent man whose life was inval- 
uable to a family-circle ? Will the murderer pawn 
his wretched existence for such a jewel ? Can it 
for one moment be weighed for the price of that 
life, which he took away and cannot restore ? O 
no ! there is in the nature of human justice and 
even in the humane feelings of men no atonement 
for such a sinner. Leave him to men and he must 
perish, and forever expiate his guilt by sufferings. 
Suppose his victim, as I have already said, to 
make the case as aggravated as possible, to have 
been the most abandoned character and now a lost 
spirit. They must meet in the world of despair ; 
they must be implacable enemies ; the victim will 
hate his murderer, with intense malignity and be 
sustained in it by the approbation of all around 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 145 

him, and never probably feel that his vengeance is 
sated or that he can ever exact from him all which 
his iniquity deserves. Whenever such a victim 
should feel a new tide of suffering rolling over 
him, he would think. It w^as you, O mine enemy, 
who sent me here without a space for repentance. 
As often as he thinks of Heaven, he says, It was 
you, O my murderer, that cut me off from all 
hope and possibility of reaching Heaven. Now 
this would all be just ; retributive justice, that 
these two spirits should be everlasting foes and as 
you sometimes see two angry clouds discharging 
their forked lightnings int© each other, that these 
two spirits should astonish the world of woe bj^ 
their clamorous anger and infuriated hatred. 
Look, I say, on such a murderer doomed to just 
retribution, which is nothing but the fair recom- 
pense for his crime ; look upon him, O ye who put 
aside the cross of Christ as the foundation of hu- 
man hope and salvation, and tell us how, on your 
theory, that man can be saved. Perhaps you will 
say, He cannot be saved ; unless hj punishment 
for a term of ages and thus washing out his 
crime. You will say to me. If you will suppose 
that he sent his victim to Heaven, the case w^ill be 
somewhat changed, but you have imagined a fea- 
ture in it to make it infinitely worse than it may 
be, namely, that the victim should have been an 
impious man cut off in his sins. Do you pretend 
that the murderer under such circumstances can 



146 Walks to Emmaus. 

be forgiven with no condign punishment hereafter? 

We do believe that even such a man can be 
saved; and saved not bypassing through the tor- 
ments of hell fire, but that he can be saved 
freely, forgiven at once, and though he had been 
the occasion of endless misery to some abandoned 
creature, we believe that justice can be satisfied, 
if such a man be saved. "We take the text as a 
declaration which covers even this case. '' Where- 
fore he is able also to save them to the uttermost 
who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for them." 

That sinner can com^ to God, and feel that he 
deserves to be punished forever and ever, and may 
consent to that just condemnation and utter not a 
word of complaint should God take him out of 
this world by an ignominious death to an ignomin- 
ious punishment forever. But he may also say. 
Cannot God be just and yet justify me? Has he 
not set forth Christ as a propitiation for sins ? Did 
not the Word who was with God and was God 
take my nature and die for this sin of mine ? Did 
he die for me or did he not ? Was I left out when 
he gave himself a ransom for all ? — And when it 
was written, '' the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, 
cleanseth us from all sin," was a special exception 
made of my sin; and when it was said of the 
Saviour, '' Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
awaj^ the sin of the world " was it interlined, or 
was there a mental reservation. Except the sin of 
that man, meaning me, a wretched murderer ? 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 147 

How is this ? Is Christ able to save them to the 
uttermost who come unto God by him ? Perhaps 
5^ou will say, In order to be saved such an one 
must truly repent, and it is not probable or possi- 
ble that one hardened by such iniquity can or will 
repent. True, if repentance depended on him. 
If God forgives him and proposes to save him, 
re[)entance and faith are the gift of God. He 
could not be* saved for repenting, for he can not 
repent without special grace. Can God consist- 
ently under such circumstances as we have sup- 
posed be gracious to such a man ? We answer this 
by asking. Is there more than one sin which is 
unpardonable? But it will be said, Could you 
with any hope offer salvation to such a man in the 
name of Jesus ? Offer salvation to him ? " It is 
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
ners of whom " you think that man is '' chief." I 
would tell such a man that there was once a 
greater sinner than he, who is now among the 
greatest of saints. I mean David, the King of 
Israel. I would rather be this man with that blood 
upon my soul than to have been David with that 
blood upon my soul, omitting the previous historj^ 
of the two men. I say, I would sooner take this 
man's chance of forgiveness than I would have 
taken David's, leaving out of view their previous 
character and conduct. I will charge myself and 
you to beware how we limit the power of Christ's 



148 Walks to Emmaus. 

atoning blood, or the infinite grace of God in be- 
stowing repentance and faith in Jesus. Perliaps 
some will say this is a dangerous doctrine to hold 
up, namely. That men may commit the foulest 
deeds, and yet be forgiven and saved. — We stand 
by the Bible. We derive the doctrine from its ex- 
press words " He is able also to save them to the 
uttermost "&c.* He that abuses this doctrine, 
does it at his peril. But is there' any danger? 
Will any man be stimulated to commit murder 
because he knows that Christ died for him ; will 
he hate his brother and take his life because Christ 
loved him and gave Himself for him ? The influ- 
ence of this doctrine is all the other way. 

" We know that no murderer hath eternal life 
abiding in him ; " — yet there is pardon for hatred 
and malice and blood — guiltiness. Shall we con- 
sign the guiltiest and the most miserable of men to 
hopeless woe because it may do harm to proclaim 
the love of Jesus to them ? Shall his cell be the 
forlorn passage, the waiting-room, to the regions of 
despair because we are afraid that some one in the 
street will overhear us preaching Jesus and the re- 
mission of sins, and ' go and imbrue his hands in 
his brother's blood ? We would stand at this pris- 
oner's cell and say. Salvation I O Salvation ! True, 
you have sinned against societj^, and your blood 
niust go for the blood of your victim. True, you 

* See Isaiah 1: 18. *' Though your sins be as scarlet," &c, 
1 John 1:3. *' The blood of Jesus . . . cleanseth from all siu." 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 149 

have sinned against every one of ns, endangering 
our safety, lacerating our feelings, destroying the 
peace of your family and — but we will not say 
more ; let your guilt be all that it is, yet you, 
even you may repent and avail yourself of aton- 
ing blood, the atoning blood of him who is 
your Maker incarnate and whose atoning sacrifice 
is sufficient for all the world's transgressions, then 
why not for yours ? 

Yes, there is intercession in Heaven even now 
for the murderer. Pardon on earth might be the 
destruction of law and human safety ; but the 
atonement of Christ does more to sustain law and 
the safety of the universe than the punishment of 
a sinner can do. Let Jesus, the Redeemer be seen 
bearing the sins of that man in his own body on 
the tree and proclaiming, I came down from 
Heaven, I became flesh, I suffered, bled, and died 
to save that murderer, — and now I offer my suffer- 
ings and death in the place of eternal death, and 
all holy beings would say. This is more than an 
equivalent. God is in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself. The sufferings and death of 
Christ are of more efficacy than the endless pain 
of a murderer could be to sustain law and order ; 
therefore it is said, '' Who is he that condemneth ; 
it is Christ that died." " He that believeth on the 
Son, shall not come into condemnation but is 
passed from death unto life." 

Let us make a practical application of this subject. 



150 Walks to JEmmaus. 

1, There is no reason why we should any of its 
despair of heing forgiven. 

Suppose that all the world should this day re- 
pent of their sins, and apply to Christ for pardon 
through the merits of his death. Would there be 
efficacy in the Saviour sufficient for their pardon ? 
" He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for 
ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." 
Now if He is the propitiation for the sins of the 
whole world, surely each individual sinner may be 
forgiven. O these glad tidings of great joy ! For 
unto you, O sinner, is born a Saviour which is 
Christ the Lord. Yes, you have a Saviour, mighty 
to save. He will subdue your sins and cast all 
your iniquities into the depths of the sea, pro- 
vided you repent of your sins and instead of going 
on still in your iniquity, you break off your sins 
by righteousness and your iniquities by turning 
unto God. For I observe^ 

2. It is only those who come to Grod who have 
the benefit of Chrisfs atonement and intercession. 

To come to God is to believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Then shall we return from our evil ways 
and humble ourselves for our sins. Christ came not 
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 
We need not expect to be forgiven and saved 
without effort on our part. No ! The object of 
Christ's death is to bring us to God in repentance. 
Now if we repent and turn to God behold what 
provision is made for our forgiveness and salva- 



An Almighty Saviour for Every Sinner. 151 

tion. The Saviour is Immanuel, — God with us. 
The Godhead has appointed and accepts this 
atonement. ''Wherefore he is able also to save 
tliem to the uttermost," &c. 

We have been told of a man on trial for his life 
who confidently expected to be acquitted. His 
counsel assured him, his friends whispered hope, 
and the man himself when the news reached his 
cell that the jury had agreed on a verdict, ordered 
a carriage to be at the door of the Court House 
and take him to his family. He went in and stood 
up to hear the verdict, and the verdict was, 
'' Guilty of murder." I have often thought of it 
as a picture of a sinner's confusion and shame, be 
he professor or non-professor, who goes to the bar of 
God without being beforehand justified bj^ Christ. 

But the greatest sinner that has accepted pardon 
through a divine, atoning Saviour, even he may 
go to the judgment seat of Christ with these 
words on his lips, " Who is he that condemneth ? 
It is Christ that died." And after his whole life 
has been read to him from the opened books, God 
the Judge of all will say, " It is God that justi- 
fieth. Who is he that condemneth ? " Which of 
these shall we be ? One or the other. Choose. 
Obey the Gospel. Live. 



JANUARY, 



Fifth Sabbath *. . Mobking. 



-♦^^ 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 



— ** From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which 
is in Christ Jesus."— 2 Toiothy 3: 15. 

THESE words will soon bear to be addressed 
to every protestant man and woman born 
upon our soil. The Sabbath School has come to 
be an auxiliary to the Church to a degree far 
beyond its original design, which was merely to 
instruct destitute children. Now it is a means of 
conveying a knowledge of the Bible, in a familiar 
manner, to every child of whatever condition in 
life, who is willing to be taught, and besides it 
brings an affectionate, faithful. Christian friend into 
close union with the young mind and heart. 

153 



154 Walks to JEmmaus. 

The object of Sabbath School instruction is, there- 
fore: 

1. To make the pupil familiarly acquainted with 
the Bible as a book. 

2. To explain its meaning. 

3. To derive practical instruction from it. 
These may be briefly stated under these words : 
Acquaintance with the Scriptures, Interpretation 

of the Scriptures, Application of the Scriptures. 

It is the proper object of the school-teacher, 
therefore, — 

First, to make the pupil acquainted with the 
Bible. It is the kind of acquaintance which it is 
indispensable for one to have with the streets of 
the town or city, or with the apartments of a dwell- 
ing ; or with the tools of his trade. It is eminently 
useful that the scholar be, in time, familiar with the 
plan and history of the Bible as a book ; the objects 
of its various parts; as, for example, to know the 
especial object of such a book as Leviticus in dis- 
tinction from Genesis or the Psalms. To take this 
for an illustration : A young person uninstructed, 
on opening the Bible and turning to Leviticus, is 
immediately repelled by its minute description of 
forms and ceremonies, and is apt to transfer his 
feelincrs toward that book to the whole Word of 
God as containing much that is both obscure and 
useless. But an intelligent teacher, though not ex- 
pecting or attempting to make all the details of 
that book interesting or inviting to a young person, 



The Sabbath School. 155 

will, in speaking of Christ and the atonement, show 
the greater part of the book of Leviticus as pro- 
viding for those types of Christ by which the 
Church of God for two or three thousand years was 
instructed, with reference to the great propitiation 
for sin. There is a design in the book of Esther, 
namely. To be a perpetual lesson on the subject of 
the overruling providence of God. An inspired 
book would be incomplete without a collection of 
sententious sayings, maxims, adages, called Prov- 
erbs. 

The relation of the book of Acts to the Gospels 
preceding, and the epistles following, gives a 
scholar the idea of unity in the New Testament 
which he does not otherwise receive ; and thus 
being made acquainted with the Bible as a book, 
it becomes far more interesting. For we turn 
away with dislike from that which seems incohe- 
rent and disjointed ; but logic is the staple of the 
human mind. Everybody reasons, after his man- 
ner, and it is of great importance to show the 
scholar that there is a reasonable and a beautiful 
plan running through the Word of God. It 
should, therefore, be an object kept in view by the 
teacher, to make the Bible, as a book, interesting 
to the scholars through an intelligent acquaintance 
with its great features as related to its whole great 
intention. This cannot be done in one or two les- 
sons; but being borne in mind and frequently 
brought to view, will be found to have a great 



156 Walks to Emmaus. 

effect in an intelligent and useful comprehension 
of the Scriptures. 

In connection with this, a teacher should make 
the pupil familiar with the places in the Bible 
where the several books occur, and why they are 
where they are rather than elsewhere. The Book 
of Judges and the Books of Chronicles have a chro- 
nological relation to the Bible, to know which will 
make them to be understood and consulted. The 
difference between the major and the minor proph- 
ets will be explained; the major prophets unfold- 
ing more at length the purposes of God with 
reference to the race, and the other prophets hav- 
ing respect chiefly to temporar}^ and local affairs. 
In process of time the pupil will see through the 
plan of the Bible ; it will assume order and regu- 
larity, and mutual dependence in its parts ; it will 
be like a musical instrument of which one knows 
the manner of use, the object of its several parts, 
and how to draw from it a desired effect. But, 

2. The work of interpreting the Scriptures to 
the class is the main work of the teacher. 

What is the mind of the inspired writer in this 
portion of the Scriptures, is the proper inquiry. On 
this, all that he is to say depends for its effect, for 
it is always well for preachers and teachers to re- 
member that nothing but the truth can have any 
saving effect. Everything else is comparatively 
useless, .and may be positively hurtful. But " the 
Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper 



The Sabbath School 157 

than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder of soul and spirit." We see illus- 
tration of this in the effect which a pertinent quo- 
tation of Scripture always has in reproving, in en- 
forcing duty and obligation, and in comforting. 
The original design of the passage, the object aimed 
at by the writer or speaker, the fair construction 
which is to be put upon the words, it is of the first 
importance for the teacher to ascertain and impart. 
In doing so, let him have confidence in the power 
of these truths, stated simply and clearly ; for how- 
ever simple they may be- and destitute of human 
wisdom and attractiveness, we are told that " the 
foolishness of God is wiser than men ; and the 
weakness of God is stronger than men." To con- 
vey the truth in the very words of inspiration, 
seeking to impress them with their simple explana- 
tion upon the memory, is wise. Read the Bible to 
a child, and it will understand the language, and 
remember it far better, as a general thing, than our 
own expressions ; and the truth conveyed by it 
being, as it always is, capable of very many appli- 
cations, will have a more extensive influence upon 
the thoughts than anything which we can substi- 
tute for the very words which the Holy Ghost 
teaches. Hence they are wise who seek to secure 
a lodgment for Scriptural expressions in the minds 
of their pupils. This, and the interpretation of 
Scripture must take the lead of every other part of 
teaching, especially of those historical, and local, and 



158 Walks to JEmmaus. 

statistical matters upon which we may be tempted 
to spend our time. This is a temptation which is 
to be resisted. Clirist says to the Pharisees, 
" Show me a penny ; whose image and superscrip- 
tion hath it ? " Now, the teacher who spends much 
time on the subject of Roman coins, is out of his 
place as a Sabbath School teacher. Our hearts are 
prone to catch at minor points of information, and 
dwell upon them to the neglect of weightier mat- 
ters. So it is in hearing preaching. A father who 
listens with his family to a sermon, for example, on 
the character and end of Judas, and entertains the 
family at dinner with a dissertation founded on the 
thirty pieces of silver, in which he tells them of the 
value of different coins mentioned in the Bible, 
and concludes by instructing the family that the 
preacher rated the thirty pieces of silver far too low, 
and that they were about seventeen dollars of our 
money, instead of twelve, as the preacher may have 
asserted, has mistaken ideas of his duty as a Chris- 
tian parent, or he is in a cold and unhappy condi- 
tion as a spiritually minded man. 

Tills is the way in which the devil cometh and 
catcheth away that which was sown. He also 
does this oftentimes by making us chiefly con- 
cerned about a mistake in grammar, or rhetoric, or 
in a quotation, or in a historical statement. So he 
can frustrate the effect of a passage of God's word 
by leading a teacher, for example, to enter far into 
the mineralogical differences of the topaz, emerald, 



The Sabbath School 159 

and jacinth in the walls of the New Jerusalem, in- 
stead of dwelling mainly on the employments of 
Heaven and upon the truth that there shall in no 
wise enter into it anything that defileth . . . ; but 
they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 

One who studies the Sabbath school lesson by 
the help of good marginal references, has probably 
the best preparation as a teacher. He who does 
this will find it more profitable to consult the mar- 
ginal references to the twenty-second Psalm, cry- 
ing " My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken 
nie ? " quoted so many times in the account of the 
crucifixion, and to make his listeners familiar with 
them, than to delay much in putting questions to 
each on the reduction of time from one table to 
another, instead of simply stating what o'clock now 
is the ninth hour of the crucifixion ; What the 
twelfth? 

In giving undue prominence to this, he loses 
golden moments and golden thoughts. And yet 
probably there is no temptation which more easily 
besets us as teachers, and we need to have our 
minds so absorbed with more important things, 
that these minor incidents and explanations will 
not be exalted out of their place. 

In seeldng for the meaning of a passage of Scrip- 
ture, the end is not reached if we merely find the 
grammatical sense, — the meaning which the words 
and phrases would convey to any cursory reader, 
but there is an intention in the passage beyond this 



160 Walks to EmmauB. 

wliicli one who is familiar with the Word of God 
will be skillful to discover. For example, the 
elders of Israel in Egypt, after their burdens had 
been increased by Pharaoh, met Moses and Aaron 
in the way as they came out from before Pharaoh, 
and these elders reproached Aaron and Moses with 
being the means of their accumulated troubles. 
He who reflects on this will not fail to see that 
God purposes to teach us here how wrong it is to 
murmur at and accuse those who are endeavoring 
to serve us to the best of their ability ; and how 
much need good men have of patience with those 
who cannot appreciate the diflSculties of their situ- 
ation, or safely be informed of all which their 
superiors would be able, if they might, to tell 
them ; and how much better it is, as the sequel 
shows, to address ourselves to God instead of ac- 
cusing one another ; and how often God is at work 
for us, and is on the eve of accomplishing our de- 
liverance when we are murmuring and ready to 
despair. 

Again : Jehosaphat makes a league with Ahab 
and goes to battle with him and is defeated. Is 
this merely a story like that of the house of York 
or Lancaster ? No ! It is God's way of teaching us 
not to contract alliances in a good cause with per- 
sons of bad character ; not to assume responsibility 
beyond our just obligations to our own interests 
and that of others, and at the same time, the kind 
consideration of God towards good men when they 



The Sahhath School. 161 

fall into mistakes, and how different is the situa- 
tion of a good man and a bad man overtaken with 
the same calamity. 

To deduce such instructions from the Word of 
God is to fulfil the design of Scripture. For as 
Lord Bacon tells us, Scripture has a germinant 
meaning. Its primary, grammatical, and historical 
interpretation is but a small part of its design. 
God makes a book, one book, to instruct and guide 
us ; he does not mentiou by name each condition 
and circumstance in which we may be placed, but 
he causes certain things to be written which the 

Holy Spirit intends shall be fruitful in instruction, 
to men of all times. Wonderful Book ! The Holy 
Spirit fills each little historical incident with mean- 
ing, and the passages of the Bible are like Joseph's 
treasure cities in Egypt, stored with corn. '' Coun- 
sel in the heart of man is like deep water : but a 
man of understanding will draw it out." So with 
the Scriptures. 

He who learns to draw instruction from them, 
and is not satisfied with knowing and telling pre- 
cisely what the passages mean, but to make each 
passage apply to the ever varying circumstances of 
our condition, is an interpreter indeed ; one of a 
thousand. '' For Avhatsoever things were written 
aforetime were written for our learning, that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
might have hope." He who gets instructive 
thoughts from passages of the Bible must dig for 



162 Walks to JEmmaus. 

them as for hid treasure. He cannot do it by 
coming to his lesson for the first time on Saturday 
evening ; let him, early in the week, at least, read 
over the lesson, understand it, and keep it in his 
mind ; he will be surprised to find that much that 
he happens to read during the week will have ap- 
plication to his lesson. Even the newspaper will 
afford him illustrations of it, and his conversations 
with people, his general reading of the Bible and 
his prayers ; and especially his prayers, for there is 
no better way to arrive at the fulness and richness 
of Scripture than to make it the subject of the 
devotional hours. The teacher will thus come to 
his class as a cloud full of rain ; he will himself be 
thoroughly furnished to every good work ; he will 
be likely to save himself as well as them that hear 
him. He who gives us valuable practical thoughts 
about a passage of Scripture is a true interpreter. 
Anything which illustrates and enforces the 
Bible is of more value than all human sayings or 
human wisdom. Let God speak ; let us impress 
his words, his thoughts, and in striving to do so, 
we may fully expect the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
who will own us as co-workers, enriching us with 
good thoughts, lading us with spices, for the ben- 
efit of those for whom we pursued that heavenly 
trade. 

But there is another work of the Sabbath School 
teacher which remains to be spoken of, and that is, 



The Sabbath School. 163 

Thirdly, The application of Scripture to the 
hearts and consciences of his class. 

Here is the secret of a teacher's power and suc- 
cess. He may entertain his class with narratives, 
and do them little good, though he seems to inter- 
est them at the time; and having explained the 
Scriptures correctly, and they will perhaps be a 
dead letter ; he may be zealous for doctrinal truth, 
and teach the class how to distinguish between 
truth and error, and give them large quotations 
from Scripture to confirm their faith ; — all this is 
well, but there is something of more importance, 
and indeed without which all else may be unpro- 
ductive and transient. He who can skilfilUy deal 
with the conscience and make the explanation of 
Scripture the means of convincing us of our errors, 
our faults, our sins, the corruption of our hearts, 
our need of Christ, and of regeneration, and show 
us the subterfuges to which we resort, and set the 
Word of God against us as a reprover, and to stop 
our way in sinful courses ; and who can lodge 
within us some precept, or threatening, or promise, 
will be sure to be a successful teacher. 

To this end he must study the character and 
peculiarities of each of the class; see what their 
troubles and difficulties are ; their liabilities to 
temptation, and apply the Word *of God to them 
as one who watches for their souls. How superior 
this to making a Sabbath School lesson a mere lec- 
ture ! If all were sincerely engaged in thus seeking 



164 Walks to Emmaus, 

the spiritual good of each soul, results would fol- 
low which would make the Sabbath School next to 
the family, the nursery of the church. 

When, therefore, one undertakes to teach a class 
in the Sabbath School, it is like assuming the pas- 
toral office in a limited degree, and it is incumbent 
on that teacher to make the welfare of those souls 
his study. The good which one may do who from 
year to year instructs young persons in this faith- 
ful manner upon religious subjects, may be without 
limits. But some will say, You prescribe too much 
for us ; we are incompetent to this work. We are 
willing to take a class, ask them questions and hear 
them say their lessons, but bej^ond this I have no 
talents or time. I need myself to be taught. 

Now the great recommendation of the plan 
which I have developed, and which needs no 
urgency of mine to recommend it, has this great 
advantage, — that it requires less learning and tal- 
ents and various accomplishments than any other 
method of instruction ; and depends wholly on 
having our own hearts right with God. If you are 
a mere literar}^ teacher, or a moral teacher, or one 
who chiefly seeks to entertain your class, you will 
often find it difficult to look up things to interest 
them ; will feel that your most laborious efforts 
were not well received or relished, or remembered ; 
but j'oii cannot instruct a class with your heart 
affected with the pure and simple truths which the 
Bible suggests, and fail to reach the consciences 



The Sabbath School. 165 

and gain the hearts of those who hear you. The 
Bible itself contains lessons to correct the mistakes 
into which many fall who complain that they have 
not sufficient talent and ability to be good teachers. 
Consider the prayer of Daniel (ix : 4-19), 
offered near the close of the Babylonish captivity, 
the sixty ninth year of the seventy years of bon- 
dage. Daniel was about eighty. He was carried 
to Babylon at about ten years of age, and was one 
of the children who were fed on pulse. He was a 
learned man ; he had had great religious experi- 
ence ; he was a man of prayer ; three times a day 
he prayed in secret, and he was cast into a den of 
lions in consequence of it. Perhaps this prayer is 
given us as a master-piece of prayer ; — the great at- 
tainment of a man who as a prince had power Avith 
God ; for we read that the prayer led to the imme- 
diate commission of Gabriel who was sent in a 
vision with a message to him. Now what sort of a 
praj^er is this master-piece of supplication, this effort 
of one who had prayed three hours a day till he 
was fourscore ; of the man who had so loved 
prayer and had such confidence in it that he chose 
the den of lions rather than absent himself from 
his closet? Perhaps you will expect in such a 
prayer, great learning, eloquence, great power of 
language ; great art of entreaty and of persuasion. 
No one can fail to wonder at the perfect simplicity, 
the deep humilit}^ the absence of all parade, the 
forgetfulness of the charms of language, in this 



166 Walks to Emmaus. 

prayer which is only the abasement of the sonl be- 
fore God, and the pouring forth of confessions and 
supplications. 

God teach us that to be successful teachers of 
spiritual things, the great qualification is to be 
spiritually minded, which is life and peace ! He 
who has a God and Sciviour whom he serves with 
his heart, and seeks to know and love him more 
and more, has with the ordinary gifts of intelli- 
gence and speech, all the necessary qualifications 
for a teacher ; while a person of the most splendid 
talents without this is nothing. Religious expe- 
rience is the best help in the interpretation of 
Scripture. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are inde- 
pendent of outward circumstances; and wonderr 
fully can he endow us with a power of persuasion 
irrespective of great natural talents. From a heart 
where he dwells he can make thoughts proceed 
which will refresh the weary soul and guide the 
erring soul. In a notice of Dr. Isaac Watts it is 
stated that a chimney sweep was heard singing at 
his work in a chimney, — and the words which he 
sung as he climbed up and scraped the soot, were 
these : — 

** The sorrows of the mind • 
Be banished from the place. " 

Would you not rather have written those lines for 
the chimney sweep than even Wordsworth's great 
ode at Queen Victoria s coronation ? When we are 
willing and desirous to be the channel of communi- 



The Sabbath School 167 

cation from the Holy Spirit instead of our own 
wisdom and learning, he can make us utter 
thoughts which will impart instruction and com- 
fort never to be forgotten. For he can fill us with 
far more of peace and love in a chimney than many 
Christians and ministers have in their trials and 
occupations, if they go to their broken cisterns for 
consolations. If there is one form of prayer more 
suitable to the Sabbath School than another, it is 
prayer directed expressly and importunately to the 
Holy Spirit. He is the author of the Bible. Let 
him be invoked in the place specially set apart for 
its study. 

Parents, remember the kind friends who give 
their time and strength to the spiritual good of 
your children. Pray for them, that God will make 
their instructions salutary. Manifest j'our appre- 
ciation of their efforts by co-operating with them, 
and letting the teachers see that they are assisted 
by your interest in the children*s lessons. 

Let each teacher become the friend of each 
scholar, remembering the vast good which may 
result from instructions imparted under circum- 
stances so favorable to religious impressions. It is 
well to remember that in spiritual things we can 
benefit people only as we love them. 

To sit as a scholar with the Bible in your hands, 
with a kind friend expressly employed to explain 
and enforce its meaning, will seem to these beloved 
young friends hereafter, a privilege which they 



168 WaUcs to Emmaus, 

could not too highly prize. God's hand and heart 
of love are seen in these privileges, drawing you to 
himself, seeking your preparation for usefulness 
and happiness in life, and j^our endless welfare. 
Take fast hold of instruction ; let her not go ; 
keep her, for she is thy life. When thou goest it 
shall lead thee : when thou sleepest, it shall keep 
thee ; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with 
thee. Thy steps shall not be straitened ; and when 
thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 

If there be a sight that compares well in interest 
with that of a class of children and their teachers 
in a Sabbath School, it is a class of young people or 
adults who have not outgrown their love of re- 
ligious instruction, but who assemble to study the 
Word of God. If all of the congregation whose 
duties permit would associate themselves for this 
purpose in classes, they would receive and impart 
great spiritual blessings. 

I would therefore commend the interests of the 
Sabbath School to your affections and prayers. 
God has magnified his Word above all his name. 
They who honor the Word of God, shall find that 
God will enrich them with wisdom, and under- 
standing. A love for the Word of God and an in- 
creasing knowledge of it, will save you from error, 
which is the parent of all sin, for there is no sin 
without some precedent error. Spiritualism is a 
judgment on those who neglect the Bible. If we 
forsake God's appointed mode of communication 



The Sabbath School 169 

with us, he will let us delude ourselves with witch- 
craft in its modern forms, and with other impos- 
tures which tend to bewilder and dazzle and to 
blind. We have a written, plain directory to duty 
and to all essential knowledge of God and of his 
will. Let us continually stir ourselves up to greater 
love and zeal for this infinite gift of God, his holy 
Word, and especially may his blessing be upon 
those who give themselves to the work of explain- 
ing it to others. May they themselves thereby 
purchase to themselves a good degree and great 
boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. 



JANUARY. 
Fifth Sabbath Afternoo:n-, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER'S MANUAL. 

" Tkou hast magnijfied thy word ahove all thy name," 

—Psalm 138: 2. 

WHETHER these words refer to the fulfil 
ment of divine promises to David, or, gen- 
erally, to the communications of God to men, the 
declaration contained in them is equally true. The 
caption of this Psalm says, " David praiseth God 
for the truth of his word." That something more 
than his private word to David is referred to ap- 
pears probable from the fourth verse, "All the 
kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when 
they hear the words of thy mouth." 

God has always put peculiar honor upon his 
word whether it be his promise to a man or nation, 
or his utterances by the mouth of prophets. If 
the unseen God would command the confidence 

171 



172 Walks to Ummaus. 

and love of men, and establisli his authority over 
them, his communications to them, however made, 
must be such as in a peculiar manner to honor him. 
He must magnify his word above all his name. 
However much his name as Creator and Ruler may 
be magnified by his works, men will look to his 
words, his communications, for more direct knowl- 
edge concerning him. His communications to men 
must, therefore, be such as to command the highest 
confidence and praise. In showing that God has 
in this sense magnified his word above all his 
name, I shall illustrate the following proposition: 

The Bible as a hook is a pre-eminent illustration 
of divine wisdom. 

In choosing this subject for a sermon to Sabbath 
School teachers, I am influenced by the considera- 
tion that great efforts are now made to undermine 
the confidence of people in the Bible. As one way 
to destroy a tree is to make deep gashes here and 
there in the trunk, without cutting it down, the 
unbelievers of the present time seek to inflict 
wounds upon the Bible, expecting in this way to 
destroy the superstitious reverence, as they call it, 
which men have for the Scriptures. We hear 
many things said against the Bible in popular 
forms of expression, derived, however, from trans- 
cendental sources, whose effect is to trouble the 
minds of many who have no suitable advantages 
for refuting them. The Bible being the only 
source of instruction in the house of God and Sab- 



The Sabbath School Teacher's Manual. 173 

bath School, the whole business of the Sabbath 
School teacher being to illustrate and enforce that 
Book, everything depends upon the value which- he 
places on the Bible, and upon his confidence in it, 
and his reverence for it, in making him zealous in 
his employment. It has therefore seemed proper 
to remind the Sabbath School teacher of the 
grounds on which he is warranted to cherish su- 
preme confidence in the Bible, and reverence it as 
the Word of God. 

I observe, therefore, 

1. We might expect beforehand that a benevo- 
lent Deity would make some permanent revelation 
of liis will to the human race. 

It is for the interest and happiness of man to 
know something about his Creator in addition to 
the truth of his existence and natural attributes as 
proved by the works of nature, and in confirmation 
also of that impression respecting his moral charac- 
ter which is written on the natural heart. To se- 
cure his favor, to avoid his displeasure, man needs 
to know specially what God requires of him. 
There are also great questions which the mind of 
man naturally desires should be answered respect- 
ing his destiny, and in explanation of the mysteries 
in and around him. If, therefore, there be a be- 
nevolent Deity, which we assume, it is clear from 
the light of reason that he will make a permanent 
revelation to the world concerning himself, the 
duty which he requires of man, and man's destiny. 



174 Walks to EmmauB, 

When T say a permanent revelation, I mean one 
which shall be recognized from age to age as the 
universal standard of truth and duty, completed at 
a proper time, sufficient for all the purposes of a 
revelation from God. 

If tradition is to be relied upon with regard to 
anything, this is certain, that from the beginning, 
and while the race were comparatively few, God 
chose to reveal himself by personal appearances. 
He spake in time past to the fathers by the proph- 
ets. But it is evident that the time must have 
arrived in the progress of things, when it was de- 
sirable that the world should have an authentic 
record of those things which had been preserved 
by tradition, and to which should be added a full 
and sufficient disclosure of the Divine will concern- 
ing him. But, 

II. To the eye of reason there were great diffi- 
culties in the way of a Divine revelation to be 
made in a Book which should be suited to the 
whole human race. 

To the benevolent Deity comprehending all the 
interests of men, and all which concerns his own 
glory, the nature and manner of this communica- 
tion or revelation to m^n must have appeared inex- 
pressibly important. When the race were compar- 
atively few, he chose to reveal himself by personal 
appearances, as was just remarked. But the time 
came when it seemed necessarj^ we will suppose, 
that the world should have a book which should 



The Sabbath School Teacher s Manual, 175 

be, in a sense which no other book could be, the 
Book of God, distinguished from them all by the 
name of The Book. 

If it were the purpose of God to bestow such a 
book on the world, it is easy to see that infinite wis- 
dom alone could make such an one as would be 
perfectly suited to the wants of the whole human 
race. For by our supposition it is not to be for 
one nation, language or age, but permanently for 
all nations, for every language, for every age. It 
must be adapted to every condition of men. Con- 
sidering the importance of early impressions upon 
the minds of the young, it must be in a peculiar 
manner constructed so as to interest the rising gen- 
eration of every people. Yet it must not be a 
mere book for children ; to be worthy of God it 
must contain mysteries. It must interest man in 
all the variety of his intellectual progress and de- 
velopment. It must contain truths and language 
suited to all, and so copiously that it will require 
no index or thorough knowledge of its difi:erent 
parts to find here and there a word of comfort, for 
example, for the sick and djdng, the mourner, the 
prisoner ; but its general tenor must be such that 
on reading it anywhere God will so appear in it, 
more conspicuously of course in some places than 
in others, that it shall be a safe and useful book in 
every possible condition. 

But this is not one half of the difiSculty attend- 
ing the preparation of such a book. Different na- 



176 Walks to Emmaus. 

tions have different modes of thought, and their 
varying temperaments make different styles and 
different kinds of ^Yriting specially adapted to 
them. The dwellers beneath the tropics and 
around the poles differ in some respects in their 
modes of thought, and the Bible must therefore 
adapt itself to that which men liave in common in 
all the latitudes of the globe. 

But it must not be a cumbersome volume. The 
majority of the human race are not addicted to 
study, or to much reading. The size of the Bible 
is to be considered, and who but God can judge 
how large and how small it might best be ? It 
would seem that it could not, in the nature of 
things, be a small book. Its subjects are, God, the 
duty of man, his destiny. On these subjects books 
could be multiplied without end, and not exhaust 
the themes. What shall be the limits of the vol- 
ume which is to contain all that we are to know 
of God in this world ? At what point shall revela- 
tion be suspended, when the human mind, excited 
by that which is already revealed, is craving more ? 
We see at once that infinite wisdom alone can de- 
cide how much to say on each topic so as to say 
enough, and yet not swell the book to inordinate 
dimensions. 

But if this book is to be the only revelation of 
God to man till the end of time, and through all 
time is to be the daily directory of every human 
being, the true light that lighteth every man tliat 



Tlie Sahhath School Teacher s Manual. 177 

Cometh into the world, how can it be constructed 
so as to retain its originalit}' and not be so familiar 
as an old tale as to lose its interest ; how shall it be 
constructed that it will not become an antiquated 
book ? It would be unsafe for the reputation of 
any uninspired book to be the constant companion 
of all men for a few years ; they would grow weary 
of it ; they would long for a change ; even Homer 
would seem to fall asleep, and Milton's adventu- 
rous wing would tire us, if we should keep imagi- 
nation on the stretch for days and nights to follow 
him. Yet a book as we have supposed is to be 
made which will never grow old, any more than 
the fountains or the sunrise. 

But the minds of men in different ages of the 
world are interested in far different things ; the 
progress of science and of the arts will make vast 
changes in human society ; the intellectual and 
moral tastes of men will be improved ; is it possible 
that a book can be made which shall not be above 
the comprehension or beyond the taste of a rude 
age, and yet satisfy the cultivated minds, for ex- 
ample, of the twentieth century ? To make the 
book useful, it must draw its illustrations from 
common life, and from the arts ; and from customs 
and from natural phenomena. But it would seem 
impossible to do this, and j^et make a book of the 
kind contemplated which will be tolerated more 
than one century, because it would contain, as we 
should suppose, allusions to things which at the 



178 Walks to JEmmaus. 

time when it was written were believed to be true, 
but which succeeding^ as^es and advancement in 
knowledge would correct. It would seem that, in- 
stead of having our Bible for all times, it would be 
necessary to have one for every century, and as the 
world advances with, accelerated velocity in its dis- 
coveries, one for every generation. 

Think, too, of the criticism to which every hu- 
man production is liable. Is it proposed to make a 
book for the human race ? Who can make one 
which shall stand the test of daih^ and hourlj'^ ex- 
amination, and not only be as acceptable as at first, 
but contain hidden wonders, unsearchable riches, 
to satisfy and gratify the human mind till the last 
day, and find in so many bosoms such a defence 
for itself against cavils and hostility as to retain its 
authority and influence as the Book of God ? 

What work of God yet known to us surpasses 
this projected volume ? If God shall make such a 
book as w^e have now considered, it may well be 
said of it, Thou hast magnified thy Word above all 
thy name. The creation of a planetary system by 
one act of omnipotence, stupendous as such an act 
confessedly is, does not strike the mind as so dif- 
ficult as to adapt one and the same book to the 
conditions and wants, to the understanding, feel- 
ings, and taste of the human race in all parts of the 
earth, and in different ages of the world. 

We have agreed that it is in the highest measure 
desirable for the human race to possess such a vol- 



The Sabbath School Teacher's Manual. 179 

ume, if it should be consistent with the wisdom of 
God to bestow it upon them. A book which will 
commend itself to every succeeding age, and to far 
distant times as one that has stood the test of 
time, formed the religious character of past genera- 
tions, ameliorated the condition of man by its 
moral and political influence, and like a sun in the 
heavens shed its benignant influences without dis- 
tinction upon men , a book which came from God, 
and contains all which man can know concerning 
Him in this world, so that each human being may 
have access to this ovlj source of knowledge 
equally with his fellow men ; a book requiring no 
learning to understand all in it which is essential 
to peace with God, and one which is never to be 
superseded by any other book, but will be in the 
hands of men at the moment when they hear the 
voice of the archangel and the trump of God. If 
we had never seen such a book, and there had been 
a disclosure from Heaven that such a volume was 
to be given to the world, we cannot describe the 
earnestness with which it would be looked for. 
Instead of having been composed in successive 
parts at long intervals, should it be announced that 
it had been handed down from Heaven to some 
favored cit}^ the rest of the world would turn their 
eyes to that place. Magi would travel from the 
rising to the setting sun to find it. The coming of 
Christ did not excite an interest in the minds of 
men greater than would be excited by the appear- 



180 Walks to JEmmaus. 

ance of that book. Translated into everj- known 
language of the earth, it would soon spread wher- 
ever man is found ; the people which sit in dark- 
ness would see a great light: and to them which 
sit in the region and shadow of death, light would 
spring up. Heaven and earth would be in commu- 
nication. 

There must be such a book. The usefulness of 
it, the absolute necessity for it, the infinite wisdom 
in the bestowment of it, make it next to certain 
that there is such a book. If there be a benevo- 
lent God, there must be such a book. Such a book 
there is. It is all which has been described, and 
the half has not been told you. Consider it well, 
and j^ou will crj^ with adoring gratitude to the In- 
finite Giver, " Thou hast magnified. thj^ word above 
all thy name." 

We have considered the difiQculties in the way of 
the production of such a book ; difficulties insuper- 
able except by omniscience and infinite skill. We 
are now to see how these difficulties have been met. 
God, who made every thing and saw that it was 
good, has employed his infinite wisdom in the con- 
struction of a book for the human race. Is the 
book worthy of its divine Author ? Is it a pre-emi- 
nent illustration of Divine wisdom ? 

III. I am to show that the Bible,^LS a book, is a 
pre-eminent illustration of divine wisdom. In 
doing this I observe, 



The Sahbath School Teacher's Manual. 181 

1. The size of the Bible illustrates the wisdom 
of God in the construction of the book. While it 
can be expanded by the arts of printing to a great 
size, it is also put into a form which a child can 
hold in his hand, and which can be carried about 
the person without incumbrance. In that little 
volume is contained all which can be known of 
God in this world, and enough to secure for him 
who reads, immortal happiness. There i^^, no duty 
which he owes to his fellow creatures, there is no 
office which he may hold among men, there is no 
trial which may befall him, there is no condition of 
life, high or low, rich or poor, in which he may be 
placed, there is no quality or grace of character of 
which he is capable, but that Book contains full 
instruction and help with regard to it. One of the 
greatest of men said to his young friend, '^ From a 
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation." All 
this is contained in that little book which you can 
hold in one hand, while in the other you hold a 
book of questions to aid you in reading it. 

Go into a law office and see the array of books 
on jurisprudence ; and then consider that the laws 
of God, and all which is essential to human salva- 
tion, are comprised in one small portable, conven- 
ient volume, and adore the wisdom that framed the 
Bible. 

2. The style of the Bible is an illustration of 
divine wisdom. 



182 Walks to Emmaus. 

It is perfectly simple. It treats of the most sub- 
lime and difficult subjects, many of them beyond 
the comprehension of men or of angels, and yet in 
all that is said respecting them we need find no dif- 
ficulty in understanding the thoughts of the writ- 
ers. The style of the Bible is so'peculiar that men 
immediately recognize a quotation from it in an 
address, not merely because they are familiar with 
it, but because there is something in the language 
and turn of thought which distinguish it from com- 
mon speech. This is not peculiar to one transla- 
tion. The remark is made of other versions be- 
sides the English, showing that there is a peculiar- 
ity in the thoughts themselves, and not merely in 
the language in which they are conveyed. 

If a benevolent God bestows a book upon the 
human race, the same benevolence which led him 
to bestow it would of course lead him to give a 
book which w^ould be adapted to the common 
mind ; so that no more learning than being able to 
reacl would be required to understand enough of it 
for all practical purposes. This we see is the case. 
The little child reads and understands the stories 
in the Bible almost as early as it can read anything, 
and the book used in charity schools to teach 
adults to read is as frequently as any other the 
New Testament. Nothing is easier and more sim- 
ple than the first chapters of John, and yet those 
chapters contain all which is essential to salvation. 
Such, then, is the style of the Bible. The God 



The Sahhath School Teacher's Manual, 183 

that made that beautiful element, the water, for 
human use, gave the Bible with a style as clear as 
crystal, free from those stimulating and wearying 
qualities which characterize mere human produc- 
tions, and that too in proportion to the interest 
which its subjects Have for us. 

While the style of the Bible is uniformly simple, 
there is a great variety of stjde in it. Not far from 
iovtj different minds were employed in composing 
it. No one of them indulges in abstruse, philo- 
sophical speculations, or in anything which all may 
not comprehend. But when Plato undertakes to 
instruct the world, — Plato, of whom an ancient said, 
"If Jupiter should speak Greek, he would speak 
in the style of Plato," — he is so obscure that the 
world is divided as to his meaning in many things ; 
and to have read Plato is considered an uncommon 
attainment. Yet Solomon, wiser than Plato, and 
the wisest of his race, writes in a style so perspic- 
uous, easy, and beautiful, that it may be said of 
each of his books, that Plato in all his glory is not 
arrayed like one of these. 

The variety in the style of the Bible is one of 
the most remarkable illustrations of divine wisdom 
in its composition. For while these holy men 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, it is 
an interesting fact that each of them retains his 
peculiarities as a iVriter. The style of Moses is far 
different from that of Isaiah ; David and Jeremiah 
and the evangelists are in many respects unlike as 



184 Walks to Emmaus. 

any writers that ever lived. By means of tins 
originality of style in each book, preserved not- 
withstanding the inspiration of the writer, the 
Bible insensibly has its power to interest the 
human mind as it could not if all the thoughts 
were run in the same mould. 

3. The different kinds of writing in the Bible 
illustrate the wisdom of God in its construction. 

Without doubt if men had been called upon to 
decide what kind of book the Bible ought to be, 
there would have been a great diversity of judg- 
ment. Many, no doubt, would have insisted that 
if the Bible is to be a rule of conduct, it should be 
written in the form of laws. What a calamity if 
the Bible had been a mere statute book, " Be it 
enacted " heading every chapter, and, Thou shalt 
not, introducing every prohibition. 

Shall the book contain history? The answer 
would perhaps be, Where shall it begin ? and still 
more, where shall it end ? and within what banks 
shall the stream of history be confined ? Shall it 
contain poetry ? Some would say, What is the use 
of poetry in a book of laws, or in speaking of such 
awful themes as the Bible must reveal ! In short, 
men would have found it as impossible to agree in 
making a Bible as in making the worlds. 

The foolishness of God is wiser than men. In a 
few simple words he tells us of creation ; and' the 
wonder is that Moses, writing in an age when 
nothing was known of geology or astronomy, 



The Sabbath School Teacher s Manual. 185 

should write nothing contradictory to future dis- 
coveries, but in such a manner that his words 
should be confirmed by them. Then, instead of a 
book filled with law^s, we have ten commandments, 
comprehending the whole duty of man, and to il- 
lustrate them, we have the complete history of a 
peculiar people, in whose eventful experience, God, 
the human heart, everything relating to life, and 
human happiness and misery is unfolded in the 
most captivating manner, not in the form of pre- 
cepts, but in narratives which surpass anj^thing 
even in fiction for eloquence and beauty. 

Man has something more than understanding 
and conscience, and requires something more than 
precepts. Accordingly his feelings, the deepest, 
tenderest feelings of his nature are reached and 
impressed in sacred songs, penitential, reverential, 
dirgelike, joyful, suited to every possible condition. 

But a large portion of the race, especially in ori- 
ental regions, are fond of maxims and pithy say- 
ings. It is said that the Turk is struck with the 
power and beauty of the Proverbs of Solomon. 
That book, the production of the wisest of men, 
contains in a condensed form, and chiefly in apho- 
risms, a greater amount of prudential wisdom than 
can elsewhere be found. 

Under this head, perhaps better than another 
place, I would allude to the wisdom of God in em- 
ploying four men to write the life of Christ. It 
was necessary that there should be more than one 



186 Walks to JEmmaus. 

witness to such a history. Four men were there- 
fore employed, each to relate the story in his own 
manner. They differ in minor points, as honest 
men always do in giving a narrative ; for none but 
imposters agree in every circumstance of a story. 
We sometimes hear it said that the evang^elists do 
not perfectly agree. Suppose that they agreed 
perfectly, without any variation ; their several nar- 
ratives would have only the value of one narrative ; 
and there would then be no use in having more 
than one man write the life of Christ. Here now 
we see the wisdom of God in permitting those four 
men to vary from each other enough to give a sep- 
arate interest to each narrative, and at the same 
time preventing them from disagreeing so far as to 
hurt their credit. No writer of history would 
think that he could make his book acceptable, if he 
should publish four parallel narratives of the same 
events by four different men; having told the 
story once he would prefer to say that the others 
agree substantially in that account. But God can 
employ four men ta»recount the life of Christ, and 
promote the interest and authority of the New Tes- 
tament by so doing. 

The longest of the Psalms of David is a psalm 
in praise of the Holy Scriptures. When and where 
shall we end if we attempt their full praise ? As 
David said, I know not the numbers thereof. 

1. If such be the importance of the Word of 



The Sabbath School Teacher s Manual. 187 

God, and if there be such wisdom in constructing 
it, we must believe in the plenary inspiration of 
the Bible. 

By plenary inspiration, we mean that the Bible 
is fully inspired. This inspiration consists of direct 
suggestion when it is needed: guidance at other 
times, and full supervision at all times ; the words 
themselves having the sanction, at least, of the 
Holy Ghost. It is absurd to suppose that such a 
Book is not verbally inspired. I repeat, it is ab- 
surd to suppose that such a book as we have de- 
scribed the Bible to be would have been left in the 
composition of it for the imperfection and errors of 
men to mar the whole as they would have done, 
had not every word been watched over by the 
Almighty. If, therefore, this Book had been writ- 
ten on the throne of God with his own hand, and 
had been sent to this house by angelic ministra- 
tions, we would have no more confidence in every 
word of it than we are warranted in feeling towards 
it now. 

It maybe said, since the books of the Apocrypha 
were, for some time, regarded as a part of the Holy 
Scriptures, how do we know that some other por- 
tions of the Bible may not hereafter prove to be 
spurious ? 

Eighteen hundred j^ears, it will be allowed, come 
near at least to a reasonable time in which to have 
tested the inspiration of the present Canon. Had 



188 Walks to Emmaus. 

the book of Tobit, or the books of Maccabees re- 
mained ill the Canon of Scripture as long as the 
latest books of the Bible, it might be argued that 
more time should be allowed to prove the present 
Canon. 

But in the first place, no apocryphal books are 
extant in the Hebrev/ tongue. This is one circum- 
stantial evidence against their antiquity. All are 
written in Greek, except the fourth book of Esdras 
which was written in Latin. None of them were 
admitted into the Canon during the first four cen- 
turies of the Christian church. In the catalogue 
of inspired writings prepared by the Bishop of 
Sardis in the second century, they are not men- 
tioned ; nor in the catalogue of Origen in the third 
century ; nor in those of Athanasius, Cyril of Jeru- 
salem, and Jerome in the fourth ; in view of which 
Bishop Burnet says, We have the concurring sense 
of the whole Church of God in this matter. 

In the next place, these apocrj^phal books were 
never regarded with the same reverence as the 
books of our present Canon, till the Council of 
Trent, only about three hundred years ago hold- 
ing its sessions between the years 1545 and 1563, 
canonized these apocrj^phal books, as the Romish 
Church also canonizes dead men's bones. The real 
object of the Council, convoked and opened by 
Pope Paul III, was to counteract and crush the 
reformation. It enacted several conclusions under 
the pain of anathema : — 



The Sabbath School Teacher's Manual, 189 

1. All the books of Scripture, canonical and 
apocryphal, are possessed of Divine authority. 

2. Tradition, whether it regards matters of faith 
or practice, must be received with the same venera- 
tion, forasmuch as it is the unwritten Word of God. 

This was the first time that the apocrj^phal 
books were sanctioned as parts of Scripture ; but 
with Protestants, the doings of the Council of 
Trent are not imperative. The nature of these 
books, and the light in which they were regarded 
at the first is indicated by the name they bear, 
Apocrypha, derived as some say, from a Greek 
word which means to hide ; or as others say, from 
two Greek words signifying out of, or away from 
the chest, because they were not kept in the chest 
or crypt with the sacred books. Some use, how- 
ever, was made of the apocrj'phal writings. The 
book of Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon and Eccles- 
siasticus, were at first allowed to catechumens, or 
candidates for the church, on account of the excel- 
lent moral precepts contained in them ; and when 
they \A ere read in public the}^ were given to the 
readers who stood in a lower place than the offici- 
ating pastors and elders. The books of the Apoc- 
rypha seem never to have had the consent of the 
Church to their inspiration, in the age when they 
appeared, and when of course the evidences of their 
authority could best be examined. 

But here we have a Canon of Scripture which 
has generally been received from the beginning, 



190 Walks to JEmmaus. 

and time " which cloth all things else impair," only 
confirms its authority. " The grass withereth, the 
flower fadeth; but the Word of our God shall stand 
forever." 

It would be unsuitable to notice here the objec- 
tions of professed infidels against the Word of God. 
The Bible will always have enemies, and so will 
Christ and God. The Bible, saj's a German 
scholar, is like a white hard beach, on which pol- 
luted and stormy waves have rolled for ages, and 
the beach is now whiter, firmer, and more beautiful 
than when it was made. 

We ought to speak even of infidels with com- 
passion; in sorrow not in anger, nor with con- 
tempt. But it is affecting to see what associations 
the Christian world generally has with the names 
of Voltaire and Paine. He who assails the Bible 
illustrates only his own imbecility and folly. 
When an artist draws a pyramid or a column, you 
observe that he draws a camel or a man below it, 
to show the height of the pyramid or column com- 
pared with them. Their well known stature by its 
diminutiveness in contrast with the great structure 
above them, shows us the dimensions of the noble 
pile. Thus the Bible reduces to insignificance 
every human intellect which approaches to meas- 
ure itself with the wisdom of God. 

If on a lee shore in a noble ship, holding on by 
her great chain cable and bow anchor from de- 
struction and death, the passengers should see one 



The Sabbath School Teacher s 3IanuaL 191 

of their number at work with a small file to sepa- 
rate the cable, he would seem to them no more 
insane than certain men seem to us who spend 
their time and strength to destroy the hold which 
the Bible has upon the community, upon the world. 
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what 
they do." We may say to one who aims to re- 
move the Bible from its place in the affections of 
the world. Thou destroyest the hope of man. We 
may ask in its behalf of those who would subvert 
it, as was said concerning Christ, Why, what evil 
hath it done ? 

The greatest service which Sabbath Schoolteach- 
ers can do for their scholars, is to make them intel- 
ligently familiar with the language of Holy Writ. 

I say, the language of Holy Writ. That teacher 
does most for the intellect, the taste, the intelli- 
gence of his scholar, who makes him understand 
and commit the words of Scripture. There is no 
such language as the words which the Holy Ghost 
teacheth. Our English translation is as good, to 
^ay the very least, as any one which might now be 
made would be for posterity. TJie meaning of 
words changes from age to age ; if we have a new 
version for ourselves, it would in the progress oi 
languages need revision. It is not too much to 
suppose that, seeing the vast -influence which the 
present English Bible was to have upon that im- 
portant portion of the human race speaking the 
English tongue, God afforded the translators his 



192 Walks to Ummaus. 

special proyiclential aid in making it so generally 
faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original. 
It is acknowledged by scholars of different coun- 
tries that our English version of the Scriptures 
does not suffer in comparison with any other. 
Such compactness of expression, such purity of 
language, is nowhere else to be found among the 
records of the English tongue. In every point of 
view, then, it should be the great object of the 
Sabbath School teacher to store the minds of his 
scholars with the language of the Bible, encourag- 
ing them to commit portions of it which are re- 
markable for beauty and force, as well as those 
which convey the most essential truths. Far bet- 
ter is it to familiarize the minds of the pupils with 
the language of the Bible, though it be done sim- 
ply by reading to them striking expressions or 
parts of Scripture stories, than to employ the time 
in the reading of other books, which is the practice 
of some faithful teachers who employ every possi- 
ble art to interest their scholars. But to do this I 
would prefer to take the Bible, and by previous 
study select such passages, perhaps certain prov- 
erbs, or the sayings of Ecclesiastes, or devotional 
words in the Psalms, but above all those words of 
the Saviour, which have affected my own mind, 
and impress them upon the minds of the pupils. 
Images of truth and beauty will thu§ be found in 
future years to have been made on their minds, 
like the effects of solar painting. They will lay 



The Sabbath School Teacher^s Manual. 193 

the foundation of a correct taste ; make them intel- 
ligent and stable \vhen they become members of 
the church; do much in every way to improve 
their minds, in addition to their direct and indirect 
religious influence. But it is obvious that no 
teacher can do this effectually who is not himself a 
great lover of the Bible. Enthusiasm in every call- 
ing is essential to success. To impart a love for 
an ancient or modern tongue or for one of the sci- 
ences, or fine arts, a professor must be enthusiastic. 
He who would make his pupils love the Bible, and 
would identify its very language with their modes 
of thought, must have those feelings towards the 
Bible which led David to write the 119th Psalm. 
He must have such an estimate of the Bible as to 
make him cry, Thou hast magnified thy Word 
'above all thy name. 

In the name of all Christian parents, and of the 
ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ, I would pray 
you, respected and beloved teachers in our Sab- 
bath-schools, to make it one great aim of your 
labors, and second only to the conversion of the 
soul, to store the minds of our children with the 
language of the Bible. Teach them to give their 
answers in the .precise words of Scripture, not in 
paraphrases, neither in imperfect quotations. If 
you will make our children familiar with the lan- 
guage of Holy Writ, we and they will be reminded 
of their obligations to you until their tongues are 
silent in death, and the scenes and language of 



194 Walks to Ummaus, 

Heaven supplant those of eartli. Fill their minds 
with the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth 
and you will arm them against gainsayers, furnish 
their memories with words which in hours of trial 
will be sweeter than honey and the honey comb ; 
you will qualify them to edify others in prayer, and 
help them as often as they draw near to the throne 
of grace. Let me urge this as growing out of my 
subject, that you love and study the language of 
Holy Writ and impart your love of it to others. 
One of the greatest, if not the greatest scholar in 
languages, Sir William Jones, has spoken in the 
most enthusiastic terms of his indebtedness to the 
Bible as^ a means of mental cultivation. The influ- 
ence you may exert by thus infusing the Bible into 
the imagination of your pupils, to be reproduced 
constantly in their future intercourse with men, 
may not be such as to be weighed or be subject to 
any other measure, but it will be like rain on the 
mown grass, whose roots bared to the shower show 
in the vigor and freshness of the field at autumn, 
the penetrating influence of the rain. Come thus 
to your scholars with your hearts and tongues full 
of the Bible, each of you as a cloud full of rain. 

A prominent object in our Sabbath-schools should 
be the formation of Bible classes for adults, and 
young persons not children. 

I am never more affected by any sight than 
when I go into a Sabbath school and see each mem- 
ber of a class sitting with a Bible in his hand. I 



Tlie Sahlath School Teacher b Manual. 195 

say with myself, How little, after all, he realizes 
what he possesses when he owns a Bible, or how sol- 
emn a thing it is to sit with it open in his hands. 
God wrote it. The idea of it he formed in his in- 
finite wisdom ; he was more than four thousand 
years in preparing it for complete publication, be- 
cause it was to be his only written revelation to 
man. Hear the testimony of an inspired man: 
It is able to make you wise unto salvation, through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus. This book is the 
message of God to your soul. It was given you 
for your guide through life, to prepare you for 
death, and fit you for the open vision of God in 
Heaven. We long to see the adults of our congre- 
gations whose circumstances will permit, gathered 
into classes for the mutual reading and studying of 
the Bible in the Sabbath School. The great con- 
test between truth and error is to be fought on the 
question. Is the Bible the word of God ? Infidels, — 
and it is an interesting fact, — generally say that 
if they were believers in the Bible, they should be 
evangelical Christians. But while they generallj^ 
admit that the Bible teaches the evangelical faith, 
they reject the Bible and partly for that reason. 
Think not, any of j'ou, that if a flood of infidelity 
comes in upon us, you or }• our children will be un- 
injured by it. You will feel its demoralizing influ- 
ence in all j^our secular pursuits, in your counting 
rooms, in j^our family circles. Gather together^ 
and help each other to understand this blessed 



196 Walks to Emmaus. 

Book, and take the sword of the Spirit which is the 
Word of God. 

Concerning one who has gone to Heaven, and 
who had made the Bible his constant guide and 
companion, we have thought, With what feelings 
must he look back upon it from the full light of 
Heaven ? As he compares his full vision with that 
glass through which he saw darkly, yet neverthe- 
less saw the outlines of that glory which is now re- 
vealed, he must think of that blessed book with 
the deepest interest and affection. But he no 
longer needs even the Bible. He left that lantern 
at the entrance of the valley of the shadow of 
death, and dwells in the place where the glory of 
God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
thereof. 

When it is daybreak on the sea, the sailor no 
longer turns his eye to the friendly lighthouse. It 
has served its purpose for the night, and is eclipsed 
by the dawn. " We have also a more sure word of 
prophecy; whereunto ye do well that 5^e take heed, 
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until 
the day dawn, and the day star arise in your 
hearts." 



FEBRUARY. 



FiBST Sabbath Morning, 



'*^*- 



CHRIST AT MEAT WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. 



** And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, 
many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and 
his discii3les: for there were many, and they followed him." 

Mark 2: 15. 

THE scene here presented is one of the most 
interesting in the life of Christ. A painter 
could have found as great a variety of striking 
faces in this group as perhaps ever was collected 
together. Why it was that the lowest orders of 
the people were stirred up at that particular time 
to follow Christ, we are not informed, but it would 
seem that it was specially ordered for some inter- 
esting purpose. As you sometimes call together 
companies of your special friends and acquaint- 

197 



198 Walks to Emmaus. 

ances, or make an entertainment for distinguished 
guests to gratify your own feelings and theirs, so 
the Saviour, perhaps, took occasion to enjoy him- 
self by bringing around him at one and the same 
time a large collection of the lost and abandoned. 
It is likely that Jesus was never happier on earth 
than when he sat in the midst of such a group. 
No other teacher, no other man had ever had a 
crowd of such people around him before. It was a 
motley collection indeed. There were the publi- 
cans, the men who bought the privilege of collect- 
ing the taxes, coming under obligations to pay the 
government a certain sum, and then, with power to 
assess, using sometimes the most cruel arts of ex- 
tortion and oppression. So that the name publican 
was hardly less obnoxious than the idea of a free- 
booter. It was seldom that a Jew dared to hold 
the ofSce of a publican, to enrich himself by spoil- 
ing his own countrymen ; foreigners generally oc- 
cupied the office, and the Jews hated them beyond 
description. It must have been a deeply affecting 
sight when a large number of these men came 
around the Saviour. What characters must have 
been there. What faces ploughed with the lines of 
acquisitiveness, greediness, meanness, cruelty ; and 
faces from which every mild and humane expres- 
sion had long since fled. There they sat with 
Christ. The lamb has invited the wolves and 
hyenas to an entertainment ; the dove has opened 
her house for the owls. 



Christ at Meat with Publicans and Sinners. 199 

Should a man invite to his house the people who 
for one week are brought before the police court of 
a large city, he would gather a similar company to 
that v/hich sat at meat with Jesus in this house. 

What may we suppose w^ere the feelings of 
Christ as he looked upon this group. No doubt he 
said with himself, Here, the great purpose for 
which I come from Heaven is illustrated. " For 
the Son of man is come to seek and to save that 
which is lost." We may suppose that his benev- 
olent heart never was happier than on that occasion. 

What were the feelings of the company ? In the 
first place, they no doubt wondered at one another. 
Were they met for plunder ? Were they a gang of 
robbers or burglars, called together to concert 
some depredation ? It no doubt seemed strange to 
them that they should compose one company, with- 
out the intermixture of more respectable people, 
excepting Christ's own immediate family. 

Then again, without doubt thej^ wondered at 
Christ. The rulers and learned men rejected him, 
but these had no object to gain in refusing Christ. 
His wonderful works had arrested their attention 
partly, no doubt, through that greater leadiness to 
believe which there is in such minds, but more by 
the heartfelt impression whicli they had that he 
was a good man. Those things in him and about 
him which led the learned men and the great to 
despise and reject him, prepared for him in the 
hearts of these sinners, namely, the absence of all 



200 Walks to Emmaus. 

pomp and circumstance, the appearance of humility 
and condescension in him. They, it seems, had 
accepted that invitation of his, and for the reason 
assigned by him, '' Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I 
am meek and lowly in heart, and jq shall find rest 
unto your souls." They no doubt had either 
heard or some one had reported to them how, when 
he had first opened his mouth to the multitudes at 
the beginning of his ministrj^, he began with these 
astonishing words, '' Blessed are the poor in spirit, 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Some of 
them, perhaps, were such, — the poor in spirit ; — 
and could it be, they doubtless said, that we, the 
lowest and last of all flesh, have the first offers of 
Heaven ? Yes, for Christ had also said, '-'• And be- 
hold, there are last which shall be first." 

What may we suppose was the nature of the 
Saviour's conversation wdth them ? Without doubt 
he had a kind word and a kind look for every one 
of them. He needed not that any should testify 
w^hat was in them, for he knew what was in them. 
The birth and childhood of every one of them Avas 
known to Christ. He knew the turning point in 
their lives where they left the path of uprightness 
and virtue, and became wicked, and how they went 
on in sin and what Satan did to them. Could any- 
thing make that malicious enemy gnash his teeth 
more, than to see a large detachment of his friends 



Christ at Meat with Publicans and Sinners. 201 

going over to Christ ; the Saviour sitting at meat 
with them and winning them to him by his love ? 
Perhaps he called one and another of them b}'' 
name, and by some words of encouragement and 
by some act of pardon made him weep aloud so 
that the whole company was subdued. Perhaps 
he gave them good advice with regard to the 
amendment of their lives ; perhaps he told them 
that he would always be their friend, however 
much the world might turn against them. And, 
no doubt, as the great theme of his conversation, 
he made plain to them that greatest of all truths, 
God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, 
not imputing their trespasses unto them." Not 
imputing their trespasses unto them ! Every one 
of them probably entered that room with the feel- 
ing that if they were forgiven it would be by some 
large sacrifice, by some severity inflicted on their 
bodies or minds ; but what must have been the joy 
of that compan}^ when this great truth first broke 
upon their minds ? — That they might receive at 
once a full and free pardon for all their sins. Oh, it 
seemed to them, no doubt, that after some years of 
repentance and expiation it might be possible for 
them to be forgiven ; but there at the Saviour's 
side they found that it was far otherwise ; and lo ! 
the heavens were opened unto them, and God in 
Christ, appeared to them a pardoning God. It is a 
feeling which has no parallel or similitude which 
fills the bosom of a great sinner when he finds him- 



202 Walks to Emmaus, 

self forgiven and reconciled to God for nothing on 
his part, without money and without price. Some- 
times he is lost in amazement, bewildered with joy, 
to think that the thing which of all seemed most 
difQcult, indeed impossible, or which it would take 
years aud great sacrifices to do, should all be done 
at once and as a free gift. The sinner feels that he 
has injured God beyond all description; he has 
disobeyed him, and opposed him, and hated him ; 
and now for God to come over such mountains of 
his transgressions and say, '• I have blotted out as 
a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy 
sins," seems to him incomprehensible. 

Then, again, the sinner often wonders how his 
soul can be cleansed, that is, how he can ever cease 
to love sin and be purified from things which are 
natural to him and alway cherished, though with a 
conviction of their shame. All at once he finds 
another law in him making him love holiness and 
hate sin, and consent to the law that it is ho\j and 
the commandment holy and just and good. Now 
he is able to hold communion with a holj^ God ; 
now he knows for the first time what prayer is, 
and answers to prayer. Then, that wonderful 
truth is verified to him, " Therefore being justified 
by faith, we have peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

It would have been interesting could we have 
heard the confessions and seen the repentance 



Christ at Meat with Publicans arid Sinners, 203 

which were witnessed there. "Without question, 
many a rich publican there stood and said like 
Zaccheus, " Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I 
give to the poor ; and if I have taken anything 
from any man by false accusation, I restore him 
four-fold." What an inquiry meeting that was. 
O what breaking hearts and streaming eyes, and 
reconciliations and songs of joy. 

But let us derive some instruction from this 
scene for ourselves. 

I observe, then, 

I. There is a wonderful adaptedness in the char- 
acter and feelings of Christ to the hearts of men. 

Light is made for the human eye, and the human 
eye is made for the light. It is just so with re- 
spect to Christ and our natures. When he is suf- 
fered to exert an influence upon us, it is unlike any 
other effect. He conciliates us ; he makes us feel 
that we are loved by him ; that we are dear to 
God; that he is disinterested in his love tons; 
that all his conduct is marked by free grace to the 
undeserving, and that his joy is as great in forgiv- 
ing and saving sinners freely as a large prize would 
make a mercenary man. It is astonishing and af- 
fecting to notice the power of the Saviour's name 
over the feelings of men. No sermons ever meet 
with such a response as those which have Christ 
for their theme. When you begin to talk with in- 
quirers, if you speak of the Saviour you get access 
to their hearts at once. This power of Christ over 



204 Walks to Emmaus. 

the hTiman heart is such that his very name some- 
times operates as a charm. We can frequently 
arrest the attention of a sick person in a partial 
stupor or wandering state of mind by repeating 
distinctly the name of Jesus. There was some- 
thing wonderful about the Saviour's person when 
he was on earth, in his power over devils. For it 
is said, '' And unclean spirits when they saw him, 
fell down before him and cried, saying. Thou art 
the Son of God." His presence and love reach 
where no other presence and no otlier love can find 
admittance. There is an affecting illustration of 
this in an anecdote which is told of the good 
Bishop Beveridge, of old time. He lay upon his 
dying bed, almost unconscious of what w^as passing 
around him, and with a sort of film over the eye of 
his mind, which made even his remaining percep- 
tions very obscure. His chaplain took him by the 
hand and said, '' My dear Bishop, do you know 
me ? " He turned his dim eye upon him. '' Do 
you know j^our chaplain ? " He gave him no sign 
of recognition. His wife came to his side and took 
his hand, " Do you know me ? " He looked at her 
with a vacant look, and glanced away as though 
the effort to recognize her had been fruitless. The 
chaplain perceiving that earthly friends were fad- 
ing from his memory, took him by the hand again 
and said, " My dear Bishop, there is one whom you 
certainly know. You know the Lord Jesus 
Christ." He made a great effort and said in 



Christ at Meat with Publicans and Sinners. 205 

9 

broken accents, '' The Lord Jesus ! I have known 
him forty years. He is my best friend." Some 
here saj^ this. May all be able. 

'^ And may the music of thy name 
Refresh my soul in death." 

2. The power of Christ's name and character 
upon the hearts of men leaves us no excuse for 
neglecting to seek and save any. 

It seems that the diciples were present in this 
company. We can not but think that Christ had 
a purpose with reference to them in calling these 
souls around him. When he would teach his dis- 
ciples brotherly condescension and kindness, he 
takes water and washes their very feet. When he 
wishes to instruct and qualify them as ministers of 
the gospel, he gathers a promiscuous company of 
publicans and sinners around liim and shows his 
disciples not by precept, but by example, how he 
intends they shall feel toward their fellow men. 
He seems to say by this scene. Wherever you find 
a fellaw-creature, there you find one for whom I 
died; and the more hardened and far from Christ, 
the more abject and neglected, the more let him 
excite your compassion. We may wonder w^hat 
the feelings of the disciples were at such a scene. 
Their prejudices and their habits of caste which 
led them to epeak of Gentiles as dogs, and forbid 
them as Peter said, to eat with men of another na- 
tion, no doubt received some violent shocks on 



206 Walks to Emmaus. 

that occasion. But they learned more of the heart 
of divinity, and were better instructed how to 
preach by spending the hour at that table in that 
company than they could have been, without it, by 
sitting for years at the feet of Gamaliel. We are 
furnished there with the best of all means to win 
souls. Did it depend on human science, on educa- 
ting people, on our talent at conversation or per- 
suasion, we might despair ; but we have a Saviour's 
love for our theme, and that is all we need. We 
may say to every fellow sinner, '' When we were 
enemies Christ died for us." We may bend over 
the djdng and bid them hope in the last hour of 
life on him who saved a tliief on the cross. We 
may follow the murderer to his cell and tell him, 
" Even your guilt can be forgiven. It is not neces- 
sary for you, even you to perish. Though you sent 
a fellow creature to the bar of God, yet even that 
sin can be forgiven, and while the laws of God and 
man require your blood, yet for your guilty soul 
the blood of Jesus has been shed, which speaketh 
better things than the blood which crieth against 
you from the ground." Surely, then, if we know 
and love the Saviour, we shall have no excuse if 
we do not use means to make men know and love 
him. The Saviour will love to see us surrounded 
with them that are lost sheep, and we may expect 
that he will be in those prayer meetings and con- 
ference meetings where such souls are by you gath- 
ered together. 



Christ at 3Ieat with Publicans and Sinners. 207 

3. We are made to think bv the scene in the 
text what interesting companies of redeemed sin- 
ners will be in Heaven. 

We know but little of the wondrous works of 
God's mercy among our fellow men. But judging 
of that mercy according to the power which work- 
eth in us, we may form an idea of its unlimited 
condescension. Such guilt as we never could sup- 
pose would be forgiven, God forgives freely; and 
sins which we w^ould suppose it would require 
eternity to repent of and cancel, God blots out 
not one bv one, but as a cloud. When vou reflect 
who you were, what a blind, hardened sinner, how 
ignorant and depraved, and ho V 3'ou sported with 
death, and how God spared you when you were on 
the brink of destruction, and what loving kindness 
and mercy he bestowed on you, it gives 3'on some 
idea of the mercy of God to the rebellious and 
guilty. We shall adore that mercy in our salva- 
tion when we find ourselves in Heaven, and we 
shall see multitudes who were redeemed under cir- 
cumstances which call for louder praises even than 
we can utter. Now the kingfdom of nature is full 
of beauty on land and in the sea. Is the kingdom 
of grace less beautiful and rich ? No, it is the chief 
of all the works of God, and therefore in Heaven 
we shall see works of mercy in the souls of men 
which will surpass all his wonders in creation. 

" God ill the person of his Sou 
Has all his micrhtiest works outdone.'' 



208 Walks to Emmaiis, 

As Christ is the head of the universe in every- 
thing else, or as the Scripture says, The beginning 
of the creation of God, the first-born of every 
creature, — so he is in this respect, — that he is and 
will be the happiest. The happiness of the Saviour 
in Heaven with all the redeemed before him, and 
he remembering as he looks on each of us our per- 
sonal history, and what acts of kindnes he did for 
us, will exceed the power of all but God to con- 
ceive of and contain. What praises from every 
soul, from families ; think of your family circle, 
standing together and praising Christ. Then that 
universal song of the redeemed, as they bow before 
him. 

" Oh may I bear some humble part, 
In that immortal song. 
Wonder and joy shall tune my heart, 
And love command my tongue." 

You have seen a field of grain, when the head of 
each stock loaded to the full, was bowing down, 
and a gentle wind was moving each of them with a 
motion Avhich looked like that of worship. There, 
as far as the eye could reach, stood the tall spires 
of ripe grain bowing under the common impulse of 
a light wind. It makes one think of the myriads 
of the redeemed in Heaven, bowing before the Re- 
deemer. O happy, happy company ; and happj^, . 
thrice happy Saviour ! 



Christ at Meat ivith Publicans arid Sinners. 209 



** When shall the day, dear Lord, appear 
That I shall mount and dwell above; 
And stand and bow among them there. 
And view thy face and sing thy love ? " 



I remark in the last place, The greatness of our 
guilt is a special warrant t^ seek forgiveness. 
Jesus Christ loves to save great sinners. " He 
pardons like a God." Look at the scene in the 
text. Let it incline your heart also to follow the 
Saviour. Go and sit at his feet, and tell him your 
griefs and sorrows and your sins ; he will hear you, 
he will forgive j-^ou, and while the scornful moralist 
and the self sufficient Pharisee reject him, he will 
be found in you the hope of glory. 

But if Christ should hold a session here with his 
disciples, it is doubtful whether he would find 
enough who are sinners in their own esteem to 
make up a company. Should he propose to remain 
here after service and have personal conversation 
with those who feel that they are in perishing need 
of him as a Saviour, who would remain ? Some 
would like to converse with Christ on interesting 
questions, as, for example, whether we shall know 
each other in Heaven; or whether he is to have a 
personal reign on earth : or whether there are few 
that be saved ; or how long Adam lived before he 
fell. As for Christ as a Saviour from sin and hell, 
they that be whole need not a phj^sician, but they 
that are sick. But they are not sick. They will 



210 Walks to Ummaus. 

sleep as securely to-night as though they were not 
lyiuG^ on the brink of eternal death. A sudden ill 
turn may be ready to plunge them down to help- 
less and hopeless sorrow. But Christ died in their 
stead. They say, This was very kind if it were so, 
but why should he have taken so much pains? 
They are going to Heaven on the development the- 
ory, moral culture, treating everj'body well, and 
living a respectable life. They have no more ques- 
tion but that thej' shall be saved than that God is 
good. They expect to find themselves at the mar- 
riage feast with all who prefer to go. there by erro- 
neouslj', as they think, believing in the sufferings 
and death of Christ. 

But when the king came in to see the guests at 
the marriage supper of his son, he saw there a man 
who had not on a wedding garment, and he said, 
" Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a 
wedding garment ? " The kind host in those coun- 
tries provided and distributed suitable apparel for 
those unable to provide themselves. His wardrobe 
stood open. Why, then, was not this guest prop- 
erly arrayed? He was speechless. The reason 
was, he thought that it mattered nothing in what 
costume he appeared ; his own was good enough. 
He was bound hand and foot and cast into some 
dark and dreadful place where he wept and gnashed 
his teeth. Now God has provided a righteousness 
for us which he insists we must have instead of 
our own. Is your own good enough in joux es- 



Christ at Meat ivith Publicans and Sinners. 211 

teem ? Do you expect to meet God with your pres- 
ent character, and be accepted thereupon? If you 
are, our Bible is all a fiction, and the parable of 
the wedding garment is a delusion. It is an inter- 
esting truth that none have more deep and pun- 
gent convictions of sin when their e3^es are opened 
than moral people. For those things which lead 
them to love and cultivate morality make their 
sins appear peculiarly dreadful when God substi- 
tutes his law instead of their standard as the rule 
of his judgment. 

'^ But what if I do not feel mj^self to be a sinner 
needing Christ?" This is the most affecting of all 
cases. I fear it' will be with you as with two 
young men in California who in a great fire went 
into a chamber of their ware-room to get their 
books and papers, and closed the iron door after 
them to keep out the smoke and draft. But when 
they came to the door with their precious treasure, 
the heat had swollen the iron door ; it would not 
open ; their voices were heard, but the fire pre- 
vented help. They died with all the evidences of 
their property in their hands. You see they made 
a mistake, but it was f<ital. My hearers, if the 
Lamb of God was slain for the sin of the world, 
and the Old Testament with its sacrifices has illus- 
trated the cross, and Jesus and his apostles have 
preached to you salvation only through his right- 
eousness, and 5^ou conclude to follow j^our own 
way of thinking, j'ou will come to Christ's door 



212 Walks to JE7)imaus. 

with all the evidences of your self righteousness in 
your hand, and perish there. Such a Saviour as 
Christ is implies that there must be enormous guilt 
in sin, and since he died for all, he died for you, 
and therefore your sin is great. Believe it in sea- 
son. Seek refuge in this Friend and Saviour of 
sinners that iniquity may not be your ruin. 



FEBRUARY 



FntST Sabbath Afteexoox, 



-♦♦^ 



THE NATUEE OF SAYIXG FAITH. 

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 
of things not seen." — Heb. 11: 1. 



NO other exercise in Christian experience, not 
even hope, nor love which '' is the greatest 
of these " and is the fulfilling of the law, is, in the 
whole Word of God treated with such fulness and 
richness of illustration as faith. In the characters 
and deeds of the ancient worthies mentioned in the 
Eleventh of Hebrews, faith is selected as their great 
excellence, though we know that they were also 
pre-eminent in other things. 

There are four kinds of faith. 1. Of things to 
come. 2. Of things past. 3. Of testimony. 4. 
Saving faith. The inspired Word sums' up the 

213 



214 Walks to Ummaus. 

whole in a description v/hich can not be improved. 
'' Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen." 

To use an English phrase, faith stands us instead 
of the things we hope for and believe in. By it 
the elders who were sent to spy out the promised 
land made up a good report of it, because they be- 
lieved God, and had assurance of victory. Their 
faith was substantially a conquest of Canaan and 
was demonstrative evidence of the things which 
they believed they would see but had not seen. 

The power of past events 'over us depends en- 
tirely on faith. 

We feel unwavering confidence that in the be- 
ginning God created the heaven and the earth, 
and we are as sure as though we had been present 
during those days of creation. God says to Job, 
'' Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of 
the earth? declare if thou hast understanding. 
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? 
or who laid the corner stone thereof, when the 
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of 
God shouted for joy."* But though we did not 
see the worlds created, still when we pray we 
adore him who made heaven and earth and seas. 
Thus faith is to us instead of sight. It is the evi- 
dence of things not seen. Hence the apostle says, 
'' Through faith we understand that the worlds 
were framed by the word of God, so that things 

*Job38:4-7. 



The Nature of Saving Faith, 215 

which are seen were not made of things which do 
appear." The truth that everything which we be- 
hold was made out of nothing is estabhshed in our 
minds merely by our yielding assent to the Divine 
declaration, notwithstanding it contradicts all our 
experience. 

Things past can have no power over us except 
as we have faith. Strike out from our minds all 
which we thus derive from faith, and what would 
happen ? The whole of the Old Testament historj^ 
would perish altogether; the fall, the flood, the ex- 
odus of Israel out of Egypt, the cloud, the pillar of 
fire, the manna, the smitten rock, the prophecies, 
would be a heap of ruins ; and thus with regard to 
the history of God's providence, we should be as 
though there were no past. Could we look into 
the minds of unbelievers, we should be struck with 
their vacuity. With them the Old Testament is of 
no authority. Adam and Noah and Abraham have 
no practical influence in their thoughts, any more 
than the moons of Jupiter ; thus a whole depart- 
ment of thought and feeling is absent from their 
minds. They do not know as much with regard 
to the past as a believing child with whom faith is 
the evidence of things not seen. They say, " Show 
us evidence." But the apostle saj^s. Faith in the 
Word of God is evidence ; the evidence of things 
not seen. Here is brought to view an important 
truth. Believing the testimony of God is the best 
evidence to the mind that a thing was or is. A 



216 Walks to JEmmaus. 

thing is known more surely by faith. Wliat are 
some of the sources of knowledge ? It is replied, 
testimony, experience, sight. But the clear decla- 
ration of God received and confided in, is the sur- 
est knowledge. Hence it is not true that faith is 
enthusiasm. Modern philosophers reject faith. 
They want evidence. But believing is the best 
ground of knowledge. 

But the future is an illustration which we can 
feel more sensibly. Things to come are emploj^ed 
by the Author of the human mind to move us to 
duty. Thus it was with Noah, who by faith being 
warned of God, moved with fear, prepared an ark, 
in sight of an unbelieving world. The expectation 
of things to come is one of the most powerful mo- 
tives constantly employed in the Bible to warn and 
cheer us. Were it not for the threatenings of the 
Bible, if men did not believe that there is a retri- 
bution after death, other truths would have but 
small power to move them. Most men v/ould fore- 
go future and spiritual happiness could they but 
live here in the enjoyment of earthly things. But 
the reason why some are persuaded to repent and 
prepare for death and judgment, is, they know there 
is a judgment, when God will bring every work 
to view with every secret thing, and that He will 
render to every man according to his works. The 
persuasion which we have of this is faith, the evi- 
dence of things not seen. God intends that we 
should be moved by it. 



The Nature of Saving Faith, 217 

The full orbed illustration of the influence and 
importance of faith is in the feelings and conduct 
of certain good men. It is seen in Abraham, who is 
the great example of it, in his implicit confidence 
in the word of God. He heard a voice saj'ing to 
him ''Get thee out of thy father's house into a land 
which I will show thee." " By faith he went out, not 
knowing whither he went." That confidence in the 
word of God was afterwards more severely tried in 
offering up that son, that only son, whom God had 
appointed to be the father of many nations. 

So with regard to all the ancient saints described 
in this chapter. The}^ confessed that they were 
strangers and pilgrims, and looked for a city even 
an heavenly, and desired a better country. They 
endured everj^ form of trial in pursuit of their heav- 
enly inheritance. The}^ would not accept deliver- 
ance offered them at the expense of their principles 
and hopes. Such was the power of faith in ancient 
days ; and if we know anything of religion by expe- 
ience, we know something of the excellence of this 
precious faith. It w^as not confined to the Old Tes- 
tament days, nor to the apostolic history, nor to the 
times of martyrs. For in the next place. 

We seek the power of faith in great afflictions, 
at times when the dispensations of God are peculi- 
arly suited to test our confidence in him. There 
are afflictions which seem to mock at all our labor- 
ious efforts and anxious solicitude, dashing down 
the fond superstructure wliich we have reared with 



218 Walks to JEJmmaus. 

so much care and affection. While reason almost 
totters on her seat, there is a feeling of peace with 
God which passeth all understanding, an assurance 
that all is right and good; that it would not be 
otherwise, consistently with the Divine will; and 
the hearts which bleed and are broken by that will, 
say, ''Thy will be done." In contrast to this we 
sometimes see a spirit of murmuring, and sullen 
grief; without any feeling of love to God; whereas 
when the heart is right with God, the greater the 
trial, the greater is a certain feeling of peace and 
assurance arising from the conviction that God is 
fulfilling some special purpose, so that in great and 
sore bereavements when the affliction is as great as 
possible, there is positive happiness; not a bare sub- 
mission, but a feeling of positive happiness in the 
consciousness that God has come nigh to us. It 
seems at times a privilege to be deeply afflicted in 
a mysterious, waj', to show our Heavenly Father 
that we can love him and trust in him when he 
gives no account to us of any of his matters. We 
do not wish him to explain; we are willing to be 
still and know that he is God. There seems to 
be no exaggeration, no false enthusiasm in the 
exclamation of the apostle James, "My brethren, 
count it all joy when je fall into divers tempta- 
tions." Nor is the apostle counted strange when he 
says, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations 
also." It seems a privilege to have God near to 
us; to feel that he is doing something with you, 



The Nature of Saving Faith. 219 

and we bless the hand that lifts the rod. We suffer 
in the affliction, from all its inconvenience and pri- 
vation and the loss we have sustained ; but still 
this confidence in God keeps our hearts fixed on 
him, so that we cannot be moved and we feel that 
God is a better portion than all the objects which 
are so dear and justly dear to our hearts. Some are 
happy when sick or in pain. This is faith in God. 
It is the most important thing in such a dark and 
trying world as this; it makes God present to our 
minds, so that we seem to see him at work and 
have as much confidence while we do not under- 
stand him as though we heard his voice explaining 
each step of his proceedings, or showing us tlie final 
result of them. This is the evidence of things not 
seen. 

See it, again, with regard to the general expec- 
tation of a Christian relative to the future. 

It is the course of this world to seek for happi- 
ness wholly in this life, and therefore to esteem the 
riches, pleasures, friendships, honors of this world 
as the supreme good. But a spiritual mind has an 
eye to future blessedness. in Heaven. The comforts 
and joys of this life are not despised, but received 
with a grateful heart; yet something says to the 
heart of the believer in the midst of all his happi- 
ness here, this is not my home, my rest; I am be- 
gotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance 
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not 



220 Walks to Emmaus. 

away, reserved in Heaven for me. Have 5^ou ever 
mourned at a loss, and loved God; and God re- 
stored it, and j'ou still clung to God ? It was a 
happy experience. It is a sublime thing in the 
midst of temptations and perils such as ever press 
our path here to see a man looking for and hasting 
unto the coming of the day of God; walking 
through the world on a pilgrimage receiving from 
it enough to make him comfortable on his way, but 
refusing to make this his rest. There are probably 
to the inhabitants of the Heavenly world few sights 
more interesting than that of a man pressing 
through difficulties and trials, overcoming the most 
seductive temptations, glorying even in tribulations, 
and reaching forth to a Heavenly inheritance. 
When they see how much there is within us and 
without us to fix our afi'ections here, or to make us 
doubt and even despair, and what power of prin- 
ciple it requires to keep unseen things before the 
mind as the objects most to be sought after and 
hence many there are w^ho never seek for them, or 
having begun grow weary and faint in their minds ; 
— he who j^ear by year t^^eads that upward path 
brighter and brighter till the perfect day, is one of 
the most deeply interesting spectacles probably 
known to the inhabitants of the Heavenly world. 
And such are we if this with us be the victory 
which overcometh the world even our faith, and 
if we by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for 
glory, honor and immortality. 



The Nature of Saving Faith, 221 

The importance and influence of faith have 
their most striking illustration in connection with 
the way to be saved. Viewed in the light of the 
cross of Christ, faith is the greatest thing in the 
whole compass of human knowledge or experience. 

Sin can be forgiven, the greatest amount of sin, 
and all manner of sins and blasphemies with the 
exception of one sin which is like striking with his 
own sceptre of mercy at the God of mercy. Sin 
as scarlet, and red like crimson, can be forgiven ; 
God will not impute our trespasses to ns, on a cer- 
tain condition. Angels who sinned in Heaven 
are punished with everlasting destruction. The 
just desert of sin God has informed ns, is endless 
punishment together with fallen angels. This can 
be remitted and, most important of all, the sinner 
made holy, be adopted as an heir of God and joint 
heir with Christ and have a holy nature and an 
endless Heaven for his inheritance. 

How, we ask, is this effected ? What weight of 
silver and gold is the ransom ? Wliat rnbies ; 
how many measures of the topaz of Ethiopia; 
what mines of sapphires, make this redemption? 
Who can count the flocks and herds, or fell the 
wood for a burnt offering, or press the olive trees 
of all the earth for the oil of this sacrifice ? How 
many leagues is the pilgrimage over which the sin- 
ner shall wander to make penance ; or what au- 
sterities of living, and what flagellations, or how 
many hundreds of thousands of prayers make up 



222 Walks to Ummmis. 

this great atonement? Perhaps life is not long 
enough in which to finish it. How many ages 
shall the sinner suffer after death ; through what 
enormous woe shall he pass to reach his pardon ; 
who are the tormentors, and what the long drama 
of misery, which must be enacted before justice 
shall return her sword to its scabbard and say to 
the niiserable soul, It is enough ? 

Can it be believed, — the sins and the miseries 
which sin engenders, all our guilt and its endless 
punishment, are taken away and our nature is 
changed by one simple, instantaneous act of the 
mind which is the consummation of a certain state 
of heart; audits consequences are thus expressed : 
'' To him that worketh not, but believeth on him 
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
righteousness." * Again. " He that believeth on 
him that sent me hath everlasting lif9, and shall 
not come into condemnation, but is passed from 
death unto life."! Sometimes faith is as the flower 
of a plant, of gradual growth ; sometimes it is 
sudden as with the Jailer at Philippi. 

There is nothing more surprising or affecting 
than this, that in a suitable condition of mind, be- 
lieving in the atonement made for sin, accepting 
Christ with the heart, relying on him with a sense 
of need, committing the soul to him, looking for par- 
don through his sufferings and death, or by what- 

*Komans 4:5. t John 5: 24. 



The Nature of Saving Faith. 223 

ever expression faitli may be represented, this sim- 
ple act of believing on Christ is accompanied by 
the renewal of man's nature through the power of 
the Holy Ghost. It saves the soul. Now this act 
of faith is accompanied at once by the renewal of 
our nature by the Holy Ghost, adoption into the 
family of God, the pardon of sin, progressive sane- 
tification and final salvation. 

It is not every truly converted person by any 
means, who remembers the moment when he ac- 
cepted Christ by that one act of faith and passed 
from death to life. Some of the very best of 
Christians cannot tell the time when they were 
converted. Richard Baxter says that he was once 
in a meeting of forty ministers who were relating 
their religious experience, and it so happened that 
not one of them could tell the time when he was 
converted ; and Mr. Baxter adds that for his part 
he did not know the moment of his own conver- 
sion. There have been those who could relate a 
splendid experience, the time and all the circum- 
stances, and each successive feeling as it was grad- 
ually developed, was stated with great accuracy, 
and such a one has in more than one instance 
given sad reason to his best friends to believe that 
the root of the matter was not in him. Still there 
are perhaps as many cases in which the convert 
knows the time of his reconciliation to God. 
There are those who sing with John Newton : 



224 Walks to Emmaus. 

" Sweet was tlie time when first I felt, 
The Saviour's pardoning blood, 
Applied to cleanse my soul from guilt, 
And bring me near to God." 

Saul of Tarsus could probably sing that song, and 
Zaccheus the Publican, and the woman that was a 
sinner, who brought her box of precious ointment 
to Christ; and so could the Jailer at Philippi. 
They had no long tedious process of doubt and 
fear ; but fully aware of these, were translated 
from Satan's darkness into God's marvellous light. 
Conversion is instantaneous in every case, of 
course; but the evidence of it is not always ap- 
parent at once ; and I would encourage those who 
are yet unconverted, to pray God that they may 
have a clear and striking conversion. It is a great 
comfort through all your Christian life to remem- 
ber that great and wonderful event of converting 
mercy ; you will never prefer any other event or 
experience to it ; it will make you confident that 
God has begun a good work in you. O what a 
work is that of being born again ! 

Here is one distressed on account of sin. He 
has tried . prayer, and reading the Bible, and 
reformation and every way of atonement, and has 
endeavored to obtain peace with God with the 
plea of his own misery. All at once the idea of 
justification by faith occurs to him in his per- 
plexity, as it did to Luther while he was wading 
up the Scala Sancta, the Holy Stairway in Rome, 



The Nature of Saving Faith. 225 

on his knees to atone for his sins, when something, 
he says, seemed to thunder in his ears, " The just 
shall live by his faith." Then the great truth of 
acceptance with God without works occurs to the 
mind by the Holy Ghost ; simply letting Christ 
make the atonement, and the sinner taking all the 
benefit of it. The wonders of that moment when 
God said in the hearing of chaos, " Let there be 
light," are employed by Paul who knew it by ex- 
perience, to illustrate that change. For he says 
'' God who commanded the light to shine out of 
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ. ' * This fills the soul with 
the greatest astonishment — the freeness of for- 
giveness. Hear his soliloquy : How I love God ; 
where is the burden of my guilt; am I in 
Heaven or on earth ; is not this a new world ; 
why, what have I done to make this change ? 

Sometimes the soul is conscious of a change be- 
fore a hope is entertained. Whitefield asked a 
Scotch girl, '' Do you think you have had a change 
of heart?" She answered, " I don't know whether 
my heart is changed or whether the world is 
changed, — one is, for every thing is new." The 
greatest experience df which the human mind is 
capable in this world, but which we do not read of 
in our books of mental philosophj^, the greatest 

*2 Cor. 4: G. 



226 Walks to JEmmaus. 

experience of the human soul in this world, — re- 
generation, is all in consequence of this one act of 
faith. As it was preached to the Jailer : " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved." " He that believeth on me," said Jesus, 
"hath everlasting life." 

How may faith be obtained and sustained ? The 
question will be asked, "- How may I have such 
faith, especially this saving faith ? " 

Now observe the simplicity and beauty of the 
scriptural answer to this question, in correspond- 
ence with the rest of the subject. The apostles 
once said, Lord increase our faith. It is notice- 
able what answer Christ made. On another occa- 
sion, "• Jesus said unto them. Have faith in God." 
Have it. But they might have said, '' This is the 
very trouble ; we have it not — and thou sayest, 
Have it ! We ask. How ? " As we promote other 
exercises of the mind, by contemplating the object 
fitted to awaken it, so we are to obtain faith. 
Should I say to you, " I wish you to love a certain 
friend of mine ; " I would make you acquainted 
with him and expect that acquaintance would ex- 
cite your love. Would w^e have faith in God? 
Contemplate him. Would you have faith with 
regard to the past, the Bible, the truth of religion ? 
Contemplate these themes. Would you have faith 
with regard to the future ? Go to the revelation 
of the future in God's Word. Would you have 
faith in the sense of being influenced most by un- 



ERRATA. 
Page 227, line 19. read, Faith is the gift of God. 

Page 291, line 6 &c. read^ Now there were many 

Man?. Beantiful name! — 

••For she to whom it first was given, 
Was half of earth and half of Heaven." 



The Nature of Saving Faith. 22T 

seen and eternal things? Do not suffer your 
business, or your pleasures, or your sins to shut 
out the thoughts of eternal things. Think upon 
them, and they will make you feel and act accoi'd- 
ing to your faith of them. But would you above 
all things know by happy experience what that 
justifying faith is that saves the soul ? Then you 
must feel and acknowledge the scriptural represen- 
tation of your lost state, and believe that Christ 
died for your sins, and therefore that you are dead 
in sins; that yow must perish without a Saviour 
and then you must renounce all other dependence, 
and trust in the sufferings and death of Christ. 
Just as we trust him, when we are dying. I heard 
a young man say in prayer to Christ, within an 
hour of his departure, 

" In my hand no price I bring, 
Only to Thy cross I cling." 

Truth is the gift of God. It must be received 
as sueh. No price, no pains of yours can accom- 
plish it. It is the gift of God to every one who 
comes and believes, desiring to be justified not by 
his merits but by Christ alone. 

It is not hope, or anything else, which will give 
you peace, but faith. '' Believe and be saved." 
You may spend fifty years in tryiug to be saved in 
any and every other way, and then you would 
have to come back to this very point, " Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 



228 Walks to Emmaus. 

It is interesting to think that we are soon to see 
those things wliich now for so long a time have 
been objects of faith. We are to see Heaven, 
angels, spirits of just men made perfect, Christ, 
retributive justice. The veil is to be lifted. 
Then will that man be happy who was here influ- 
enced most by these things unseen. 

It is good to think. Christian, that if the sub- 
stance of things hoped for and the evidence of 
things not seen make you so happy, what will it 
be to look these things in the face ? 

" If such the sweetness of the streams 
What must that fountain be ? " 

Then hope will be fulfilled and faith surrounded 

bv full vision. 

%/ 

The chief object of faith is, and should be the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He should be loved, com- 
muned with, served, obeyed. Christ should be 
the principal object of our thoughts. He is the 
brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
image of his countenance. We should employ 
Peter's words : ' Whom having not seen we love ; 
in whom though now we see him not, yet believing, 
we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory — 
receiving the end of our faith even the salvation of 
our souls.' He is coming to judge the world. 



The Nature of Saving Faith. 229 

He will be a surprise and a sorrow to many. "All 
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.'^ 

" O may I see him when he comes triumphant 
Dooming the unbelievers ; then ascend to glory, 
While our hosannas all along in passing, 
Shout, the Kedeemer." 




FEBRUARY. 



Second Sabbath MoEinNG. 



■^^^ 



THE SINNER WEIGHED. 

" Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." 

Dakiel 5: 27.* 



T 

doom, 



HIS is the meaning of one of the words which 
announced to the lost king of Babylon his 



It is impossible to determine why the wise men 



* Dr. Adams preached this discourse in his pulpit, Union 
Church, Boston, Mass., December 8, 1850. In the afternoon, 
the Rev. Benjamin Labaree, D. D., President of Middlebury 
College, Vermont, preached by Dr. Adams's invitation, — 
but from the same text; neither being previously apprised of 
the other's subject. In view of this coincidence, the same 
subject was continued at the evening Prayer Meeting. Several 
hearers dated their conversion from that day. 
231 



232 Walks to Emmaus. 

who were summoned could not read the handwrit- 
ing. They could have read any foreign language 
written plainly; but it may be that the writing 
was purposely indistinct ; so that the inspired 
Daniel might glorify the name of the only living 
and true God before those idolators. 

It is deeply affecting to notice in the Bible, the 
impressions which goodness sometimes made on 
the conscience and heart of woman, though in situ- 
ations the most unfavorable to such impressions. 
When the Saviour was before Pontius Pilate, the 
wife of Pilate sent to him saying, '' Have thou 
nothing to do with that just man, for I have suf- 
fered many things this day in a dream because of 
him." When Belshazzar and his wise men failed 
to read the handwriting on the wall, and were 
filled with consternation, the queen, who it seems 
had not been in the revelry, came into the ban- 
queting house and said to the king, " There is a 
man in thy kingdom in whom is the spirit of the 
holy gods ; and in the days of thy father light and 
understanding, and wisdom like the wisdom of the 
gods, was found in him," and '' an excellent spirit." 
Now let Daniel be called and he will show the in- 
terpretation. Divine grace may have chosen her 
even in that corrupt court, though an idolater, like 
all her people, to be a vessel of mercy, " for the 
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of 
temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the 
day of judgment to be punished." Instances of 



The Sinner Weighed. 233 

woman's influence with a wicked husband through 
her susceptibility, by the grace of God, to deep im- 
pressions from real goodness, were not confined to 
those days. Many a man would be saved should 
he give heed to the invitation of that best earthly 
friend whom God has given him as " an interpre- 
ter, one among a thousand," to reiterate the voices 
of Providence, conscience, and the Spirit of God. 
But Belshazzar and Pilate needed something more 
than good wives to save them, and so will many 
others who will cry when it is too late, " Give us 
of your oil ; for our lamps are gone out." 

This mysterious handwriting was soon deciphered 
and interpreted by Daniel, after he had most faith- 
fully set the sins of the king in order before him. 
The words were first read by him : ' Mene, Mene, 
Tekel, Upharsin.' He numbers, He numbers ; He 
weighs ; They divide. The word Mene is re- 
peated in the way of emphasis, as the common 
phrase verily, verily, was used on solemn occa- 
sions. The word Upharsin^ leaving off the initial 
and final syllables, and making a slight change in 
the vowels, as the Chaldee and Hebrew allowed, 
could be written Peres^ which is the root of the 
word Upharsin, as our verb speak^ for example, is^ 
the root of the word spoken. The word Peres as 
a verb means to divide ; as a noun it means Per- 
sians. Daniel recognized the double intention in 
his interpretation, and said, " Thy kingdom is 
given to the Medes and Persians." I would not 



234 Walks to Emmaus. 

enter into this narrative further than is necessary 
to illustrate what may be called the moral part of 
the sentence against this sinner : " Thou art 
weighed in the balances and art found wanting." 

We are taught by the narrative, in the first 
place, the following truth : 

1. God's words, few and calmly expressed, can 
overwhelm the boldest transgressor. 

Perhaps some will say that the appearance of a 
man's hand in the night time, writing on the plas- 
ter of the wall behind the candlestick, would over- 
whelm the senses of any man, be he a saint or a 
sinner. 

This is by no means certain so far as regards 
good men. Daniel, for praying to God after the 
cruel and foolish edict was signed was cast into a 
den of lions, where he spent the night. Suppose 
now that as the lions slept, and he was sitting and 
leaning against the sides of the den meditating 
upon the wonder-working Providence that shut 
those ravenous mouths, he had seen a hand come 
forth from the rock and write some mysterious let- 
ters on the side of the pit. 

Does any one suppose that Daniel's countenance 
would be changed, and his thoughts trouble him, 
so that the joints of his loins would be loosed and 
his knees smite one against another ? By ^ no 
means. Rather like young Samuel in the temple, 
he would say with child-like confidence and love, 
" Speak, Lord, for thj^ servant heareth." What 



The Sinner Weighed. 235 

could he have to fear? God was his friend. No 
diabolical arts could write any character on the 
walls of his dungeon which would alarm that man, 
and surely God could write nothing there but 
words of love. Daniel would immediately con- 
clude that it was some direction how to escape, or 
some revelation respecting the captivity of his na- 
tion at Babylon, soon perhaps to be terminated, — 
or some prophetic utterance with regard to the 
future time. Such a handwriting would no more 
terrify Daniel in his den, than John in Patmos was 
terrified when he saw Heaven opened. 

Suppose, again, that while Paul and Silas were 
in the inner prison, their feet fast in the stocks and 
they were praying and singing praises unto God, 
they had been interrupted in their devotions by 
this mysterious hand, writing bright letters on the 
wall of the cell. Would they have clasped each 
other with a shriek ? No. Paul would have said 
as he did on his way to Damascus, '' Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do ? " So far from being af- 
frighted, they would have esteemed their prison 
like some Horeb, or like the cloud, the place where 
God talked with his chosen friends and servants. 

What ails this king of Babylon? A part of a 
man's hand behind the great golden or silver •can- 
dlestick which floods the banquet hall with light, 
comes forth and silently traces some letters there. 
" Then the king's countenance was changed, and 
his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his 



236 Walks to Ummaus. 

loins were loosed and his knees smote one against 
another." Why all this panic and consternation ! 
V/hy did he not interpret the apparition as Daniel 
in the den would have done, or the apostles in 
their prison? A guilty conscience needs no ac- 
cuser. The wicked flee when no man pursueth ; 
how much more when the hand of vengeance is 
stretched out against them. This Belshazzar was 
an exceedingly wicked man. Xenophon, the Greek 
historian, records two instances of his capricious 
and cruel deeds. One of his courtiers in a hunting 
party, being a better marksman than the king, slew 
two wild beasts which the king had missed ; where- 
upon he ordered the courtier to be slain. At 
another time, hearing one of his concubines prais- 
ing the persenal appearance of a courtier, he caused 
him to be mutilated in a shocking and barbarous 
manner. His last impious deed was to call for the 
vessels of the Lord which had been brought from 
Jerusalem at the captivity, using them in his 
drunken revelry, and in the midst of it praising 
th9 gods of gold, and silver, and iron, and wood, 
and brass, and thus insulting the God of Heaven. 

It fills our spirits with dread, and makes our 
flesh tremble, when we observe the manner in 
which the God of Heaven convicts and confounds 
this sinner. There is no voice uttered in those 
halls, arresting the music and the dance and the 
laughter. No storm of thunder breaks over the 
palace. No hurricane rocks it, nor earthquake. 



The Sinner Weighed. 2b i' 

A part of a hand comes forth behind the candle- 
stick and writes on the plaster of the wall of the 
palace. No doubt those letters were brilliant be- 
yond the lights of that gorgeous hall, for they were 
written by the hand that made the sun. The 
power and majesty of God are illustrated by the 
silent and quiet manner in which so great an effect 
was produced as the conviction and consternation 
of that bold transgressor. Three words, one of 
them repeated in the way of solemn emphasis; 
three words of the Most High God, written on a 
wall, put a stop to one of the greatest revellings 
and banquetings ever held in that great Babylon, 
the glory of the Chaldees' excellency. On those 
three words the eyes of a thousand lords, and of all 
those princes and that festive company were fixed, 
heedless of everything else. Three words sum- 
moned together all the learning and wisdom of 
that empire ; three words made the monarch prom- 
ise the third place of power in the kingdom to him 
who would explain them. Three words made an 
idolater and a debauchee, a proud, wicked, but all- 
powerful monarch, weaker than a little child. The 
day of judgment could not more confound him 
than did those three simple words of the Most 
High. 

How dangerous to offend that God who can in a 
moment, by one word, convict and terrify the 
stoutest sinner. What forbearance there is in 
God, who refrains from using that power by which 



238 Walks to Emmaus. 

with infinite ease lie can fill a sinner's conscience 
with horror, and how solemn it is to think of this 
reserved power of God, this mysterious handwrit- 
ing against a sinner held back, for a while ; and 
how terrible will the day of judgment be when 
every sinner will be like Belshazzar before that 
hand ; and how unutterably dreadful will hell be 
with that same hand forever writing, as it were, on 
its walls before the eyes of the sinner, words to re- 
call the scenes of his guilt, and the strivings of the 
Spirit, passages of Scripture, expressions in ser- 
mons, events of Providence, broken vows. Sinners 
are taking courage from the silence of God, which 
permits them to go on in their trespasses. There 
is perhaps a name of a certain person, or of a place, 
or a date, or a few words connected with events in 
your history which, if God should write on the 
wall of your chamber to-night, would be to you as 
the day of judgment. You are asleep on a vot 
cano. Sudden destruction and wrath without rem- 
edy may be your portion. " These things hast 
thou done, and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest 
that I was altogether such an one as thyself ; but I 
will reprove thee, and set them in order before 
thine eyes. Now consider this, j^e that forget God, 
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to de- 
liver." 

2. The omnipresence and omniscience of God 
are here impressively taught. 

The invading armies of the Medes and Persians 



The Sinner Weighed. 239 

were for some time kept at bay, by that famous 
wall which surrounded Babylon, and by that an- 
cient xiver Euphrates. Strong in his defences, the 
king makes a great feast and defies the invader. 
" Soul," he said to himself, " thou hast much goods 
laid up for many 5^ears ; take thine ease, eat, drink, 
and be merry." Darius he laughs to scorn. "Is 
not this great Babylon the terror of the nations ? 
Even the Jehovah of Israel has yielded his treas- * 
ures to the great King of Babylon. Bring hither 
those vessels my father took from the temple at 
Jerusalem, the trophies of his victory over the 
people of the Lord God of Hosts." The vessels 
were brought, and that vast company were drink- 
ing from them, and in that same hour came there 
forth a man's hand and wrote upon the waU. God 
is not excluded from that place by walls three 
hundred and fifty feet in breadth, and eighty- 
seven feet high, or by rivers, or by armed hosts. 
His eyes are in every place beholding the evil and 
the good. God was thinking of Belshazzar in that 
same night when the impious king felt that he was 
safe from this power, and that omniscient eye 
looked forth at him, as it were, in those mysterious 
characters which appeared on the wall of his ban- 
quet house. Thus, O wicked man, there is an eye 
that never slumbers or sleeps, which has followed 
J' ou into all your places and scenes of iniquity ; 
has a perfect knowledge of all your transgressions, 
and is prepared at any moment to set them in 



240 Walks to Ummaus. 

order before your eyes. There may be few, there 
may be but one beside yourself acquainted with 
your sin : but God's knowledge of it is of more 
consequence than though the universe knew it, 
"for God will bring every work into judgment 
with every secret thing, whether it be good or 
whether it be evil." 

3. The wicked in their calamity will give any- 
thing for help. 

Proclamation was made by this terrified sinner 
that if any man would resolve that fearful enigma 
on the wall, he should be next to the king and 
queen in oflBce and state, the third ruler in the 
kingdom. This was a great offer; it was large 
payment for that which some one might do with 
the greatest ease. Queen Elizabeth, of England, is 
said to have exclaimed on her dying bed, " Millions 
of money for an inch of time." There are mo- 
ments, and we shall every one of us see them, w^hen 
wealth will be without value, pleasure insipid, 
honors disgusting ; and all that is in the world, the 
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride 
of life, will be as when a man awakes and despises a 
dream. Belshazzar offered the highest possible honor 
to one who would merely help him understand what 
proved to be his death warrant. Poor soul ! The 
third place in your kingdom for reading to you 
your doom. Alas ! " What shall it profit a man 
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own 
soul ? And what shall a man give in exchange for 



The Sinner Weighed. 241 

his soul ? " How eager men are to get worldly pos- 
sessions and pleasures and honors which will profit 
nothing in the day of wrath, and which in the hour 
of their calamity they would be willing to ex- 
change with the true Christian for that piety which 
they once despised, or deemed the most miserable 
servitude, the enemy of all happiness. 

4. We see the superiority of the righteous to 
the wicked. 

Daniel, the captive Jew, is brought in and loaded 
with royal commendations and flattery ; the reward 
is propounded to him : '' If thou canst read the 
writing, and make known to me the interpretation 
thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet and 
have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be 
the third ruler in the kingdom." We may well 
imagine an irresistible but secret feeling of con- 
tempt and pity in the mind of Daniel at this offer. 
What is it to be clothed in scarlet, what to wear a 
gold chain, in the sight of such a handwriting as 
burns there on that wall, dooming even the first 
ruler in the kingdom to a miserable end ?. Daniel 
might then say with David, '' Surely thou didst set 
them in slippery places ; thou castedst them down 
into destruction. How are they brought into des- 
olation as in a moment! They are utterly con- 
sumed with terrors." With the true dignity and 
superiority of a child of God, Daniel replies to the 
gorgeous offer of the king, " Let thy gifts be to 
thyself; and give thy rewards to another: yet I 



242 Walks to Umwatis. 

will read the writing unto the king, and make 
known to him the interpretation. How small the 
royal sinner appears before the captive saint. So 
it will be in the great day of doom with regard to 
sinners. 

As David says again, " Like sheep they are laid 
in the grave;" Sheep? Grave? Yes, diseased, 
buried; not for food. But yes: — ''Death shall 
feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion 
over them in the morning." Then the wicked 
would change places with the righteous ; then they 
would give them all they have for their hope in 
Christ; then they will despise themselves to see 
how infinitely inferior they are to the poorest 
Christian, with all their talents and emblazoned 
names, and earthly happiness, and learning and 
wealth. If we know these things, why do any of 
Tis forget God, and refuse to be numbered with his 
chosen people ? 

Every one of us, in his character and conduct, is 
weighed by a patient and just God. 

Mark the expression, " Thou art weighed." The 
object in weighing anj^thing is to see if it is a fair 
equivalent. Did God tveigh Belshazzar? It im- 
plies patience, and a considerate act of God towards 
such a sinner. No sinner is ever cut off in his sins 
without previous forbearance, consideration, and a 
just, deliberate judgment on the part of God ; for 
he that is "suddenly cut off and that without rem- 
edy," is beforehand " often reproved." Is it not 



The Sinner Weighed. 243 

an affecting view which is here given us of God's 
patience, and of his calm justice, that he informs 
the sinner whom he is about to destroy that he has 
been justly weighed ; that every allowance has 
been made for him ; that all deserved credit has 
been given to him, and that however dreadful his 
punishment may be, it will be administered by 
even-handed justice? 

It is a sino^ular and affectino^ method of dis- 
closing his doom to a wicked man. We might 
rather suppose that the word would have been: 
Prepare to die : or some peremptory mandate, im- 
plying only the stern, inexorable spirit of the 
Judge. But instead of this, the sinful monarch is 
informed that God has treated him with infinite 
patience, and his doom is the result of a fair proba- 
tion. 

Mark, too, the exceeding mildness and modera- 
tion implied in the other word as directed to such 
a great offender: ''found wanting." "Thou art 
weighed in the balances and found wanting,''' Is 
this all which can be said of him? ''Wanting?" 
Is he a mere negative character, are the sins of 
such a man sins of omission only ? No, but on the 
contrary, he has filled up the measure of his in- 
iquit3\ It is the method which divine justice 
chose to express itself, for the justice of God can 
afford to be mild in its expressions, having the 
forces of omnipotence to sustain and execute its 
decisions. Besides, as God will render to every 
man according to his works, it is properly said that 



244 Walks to Emmaus, 

the sinner, in his character and conduct is weighed, 
and his being found wanting in the fulfilment of 
his infinite obligations to his God, is all which is 
necessary to pull down upon him the vengeance of 
Heaven. 

Suppose now, dear hearer, that we approach the 
scales of Divine justice, and seek to know before 
the day of final trial comes, how we shall be esti- 
mated, as things now are with us, in that day of 
decision, from which there is no appeal. How is 
it, then, with you? 

The sum of all this sinner's guilt which Daniel 
brought to his view, was in these words : " And 
the God in whose hands thy breath is, and whose 
are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified ^ This is 
the indictment. How is it with you, sinful man ? 
Will you be weighed as to your character and con- 
duct in this respect? 

Your obligation is to glorify God, in your body 
and in your spirit which are God's ; to live not 
unto yourself, for you are not your own. Saj^now, 
Is it true or not that you have made the glory of 
God the great object of your existence ? Have you 
done what you have mainly because you thought 
that it would please and honor God ; have you 
abstained from anything because you would not 
displease him ? Have others been led to fear God 
by your example ? If you ask what it is to glorify 
God, here is our answer : it is by your example to 
make others think of God, fear and ohej him. 
Have you glorified him before your young com- 



The Sinner Weighed. 245 

panions, showing them when they were rucle and 
wicked, profane and otherwise sinful, that you fear 
God? If you are the head of a family, have }Our 
children and others been made to feel that you fear 
God ? The most common and obvious sign of 5^our 
doing so would be to bow the knee in their pres- 
ence. Do they ever hear from your lips worship 
paid to Jehovah? How is it with regard to the 
Sabbath ? In no way can we show our fear of God 
more reverentlj^ than by a conscientious observance 
of that day, which he has commanded us to keep 
holy. Do you spend it so that it would be well 
for the whole communitj^ to follow your example ? 
God says, " Verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep." 
*' Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." 
How will your conduct weigh in this respect ? 

There are obligations of a more tender and af- 
fecting kind. Your Saviour has redeemed you 
with his own blood that j'ou might not live unto 
yourself, but unto him that died for you and rose 
again. All that you have and are he claims in 
virtue of the great love wherewith he has loved 
you. Let us put into the scale all that you have 
ever done for Jesus, from gratitude to Christ, from 
a sense of obligation to Christ, your best friend, 
your Saviour. How long would it take you to col- 
lect it ? How much does it weigh ? 

With regard to your conduct — has it not been 
characterized by lightness and frivolity? Let us 
weigh your actions in this respect ; are they 



246 Walks to Emmaus, 

marked with propriety, or are they foolish ? Your 
words — aie they apt to be idle words, foolish jest- 
ing, yain conversation ? How will these weigh ? 
Will they not weigh like those gases, lighter than 
the atmosphere, which when confined, as in a bal- 
loon, for example, lift np great weights from the 
earth ? So are not your words exceedingly light, 
and your thoughts vain ? 

What sort of a child are you with regard to your 
parents ? How will your feelings and words and 
conduct weigh in God's balances against that com- 
mandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother; 
that thy days may be long upon the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee ? " So with regard 
to everything for which we must give account in 
the day of God ; do you think that you can abide 
the daj^ of his coming, or stand when he appear- 
eth? Would you be willing that a just and holy 
God should weigh your character and conduct to- 
night ; that the Saviour should stand by and call 
for your feelings and conduct toward him, and lay 
them in the scale, and that the Holj^ Ghost should 
produce the result of his gracious strivings with 
you, and your treatment of his grace ? I ask, sup- 
pose that God should write with his finger on 
the wall of your room the result of his examina- 
tion. Of how many would these words be true, 
" Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found 
wanting." 

There is an hour approaching when the result 



The Sinner Weighed. 247 

of God's judgment concerning each of us will be 
known. To some it will be a fearful surprise. In 
such an hour as they think not they will discover 
that God has fixed his opinion and judgment con- 
cerning them, never to be changed, and that they 
must abide forever by his dread decision. 

Belshazzar's fate recorded in the Word of God 
for an instruction, should solemnly warn you, O 
sinner, and you, thoughtless j^outh, that God is 
ready to say of you that which was said of this 
monarch, in the handwriting of his death warrant. 
May a suitable fear take possession of you, and 
may you cry out, " What shall we do ? " Tliere is 
one hope for you, and but one. And that is in the 
atoning death and merits of an injured Saviour. 
Never can you achieve good works sufficient to 
counterbalance your sins. They are like moun- 
tains, and have gone up OA^-er your heads. But 
Christ has atoned for all your sins. I seem to see 
you to-night trembling before God in this world of 
mercy, while justice holds up her scales, God's law 
in one extending to the thoughts and intents of the 
heart, and in the other lighter than all, your char- 
acter and your life. You begin to feel that all is 
lost : you crj^ for pity : you confess yourself justly 
condemned, and despair of help from yourself. A 
man comes near and lays something in that ele- 
vated scale. It is Jesus, the sinner's friend; he 
turns his eye upon j^ou, and says, " Look unto me, 
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth ; for I am 



248 Walhs to Emmaus. 

God, and there is none else." I hear you say, 
" Jesus, Saviour, have mercy on me. Thy cross 
has satisfied the law of God ; thy sufferings for me 
are accepted by Divine justice, and I plead them." 
Therefore he lays that semblance of his cross upon 
your scale : it sinks : a ray of hope gilds your face; 
joy at length beams from it ; a song breaks forth 
from your lips : 

'* My faith would lay her hand, 
On that dear head of thine, 
While like a penitent I stand, 
And there confess my sin. 

My soul looks hack to see 
The hurdens thou didst hear, 

When hanging on the cursed tree ; 
And hopes her guilt was there." 

Come, sinner, ere the handwriting appears to 
your condemnation, and mercy takes her flight 
from you forever. The King of kings and Lord of 
lords regards no man for his name, or place, or 
reputation, but pours contempt upon princes, ab- 
hors the hypocrite, and will not clear the guilty. 
Come, make your peace with him. Hell with its 
Belshazzars, and Ahabs, and Jezebels, and Sauls, 
and other giants in sin, awaits you. There may be 
no time to spare. Death, that king of terrors, with 
all his train may be at your very gate. '' In that 
same night was Belshazzar the king of the Chal- 
deans slain." The Medes had succeeded in drain- 
ing the river, and over its channel, and through a 



The Sinner Weighed, 249 

gate which the intoxicated guard had left open, 
they rushed in and slew this king from whom God 
had departed forever. The words of the text will 
surely be fulfilled in you, except ye repent. Re- 
pent, repent, that iniquity may not be j^our ruin. 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." 




FEBRUARY. 



Second Sabbath After:n'oon. 



INQUIRERS DESCRIBED AISD DIRECTED. 



"For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, 
findeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." 

— Matthew 7 : 8. 

WE always get whatever is reasonable from 
reasonable persons who have the ability and 
disposition to help ns. This I understand to be the 
meaning of Christ in the text; it being expressed, 
according to the oriental custom, with varied forms 
of illustration. 

The declaration of tliis general truth that reason- 
able requests of reasonable persons are, as a gen- 
eral thing, successful was intended to illustrate 
and enforce the exhortation in the preceding verse: 
"Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall 

251 



252 Walks to Emmaus. 

find; knock, and it shall be opened unto j^ou." 
The argument is, that as requests, and search, and 
efforts to enter places are, under proper circumstan- 
ces, ordinarily successful, so the requests which you 
make of God will be successful. There is, to say 
the least, as much reason to look for success in 
your efforts to obtain favors from him as there is in 
common affairs in which we alwaj^s succeed under 
reasonable conditions. In another place the Saviour 
strengthens his declaration on this subject by argu- 
ing that if success be the ordinary result of appli- 
cations on the part of children to their parents, 
much more will God bestow good things, especially 
the greatest of all gifts, his Holy Spirit, upon 
those who seek him. 

This declaration of Christ opens before us a 
most encouraging truth, in connection with our 
highest interests, which it appears we may promote 
in the highest measure by securing the Divine 
favor in answer to every reasonable request. I in- 
tend to apply the subject particularly to those who 
have in times past sought, or who may now be 
seeking to know the truth, and to obtain the salva- 
tion of their souls. It is true of all such persons 
as it is of others, tha,t Every one that seeketh find- 
eth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

But many will say. This contradicts our experi- 
ence. We have long sought to know the truth, and 
have been inquirers after the way to be saved, but 
we have never succeeded in our search. I answer, 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 253 

This must be owing to the neglect of those condi- 
tions to which allusion has already been made. 
Many, very many, in common things ask and seek 
and knock, who never succeed. Some will desire 
to know who they are and how to avoid their mis- 
take, and how to comply with those conditions on 
fulfilling which every one that asketh receiveth, 
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knock- 
eth it is opened. 

To meet this desire, I wish to show the different 
ways in which men inquire respecting the truth 
and the things pertaining to salvation. Taking the 
New Testament history for our guide, 1 propose 
then at this time to consider the different kinds of 
inquirers on the subject of religion. 

I. There are some inquirers who are opposers 
to religion. This may seem strange to some at first, 
but we shall see that it is true. 

Of opposers to religion who have been found in- 
quirers on the subject we may mention the Scribes 
and Pharisees in the time of Christ. They came 
to him seeking a sign of his Messiahship: ''What 
sign showest thou that thou doest those things?" 
Surely it is not a fault to ask for the proof of an 
important thing. But the inquiry was made with 
a spirit of hostility to religion and to Christ. These 
men wished Christ to . stake his authority and the 
truth of his teachings on some miracle which should 
perhaps be agreed on by them, or hy which the 



254 Walks to Ummaus. 

Sayiour should challenge the world to examine the 
proofs of his being the Christ. Had Christ thus 
rested his cause on a miracle, it would have been 
easy for these opposers, and thej knew it, to over- 
throw his claims in the mmds of many. For as it 
was, they imputed his works to a league with Sat- 
an : " He hath a devil and is mad, why hear ye 
him?" Or it would have been easy for them to 
suborn false witnesses, as they did at his trial, to 
contradict the miracle, or they would have imputed 
it to sleight of hand or other crafty and as they 
forged a falsehood respecting the resurrection of 
Christ, so they would have done perhaps with re- 
gard to any miracle on which the credit of Christi- 
anity might have been rested. The Saviour wisely 
forbore to gratify their demand. He knew that 
they would impute his refusal to wrong motives. 
He chose to let them scoff at him, rather than grat- 
ify their unreasonable demand. It is* said, '' He 
sighed deeply in his spirit saying. Why doth this 
generation seek after a sign ? " It must have affec- 
ted him therefore, with great grief. Why did he 
heave this sigh ? No doubt with a feeling of sad- 
ness that all his mighty signs and wonders had been 
lost upon them ; for then was fulfilled the saying 
of Isaiah, " Who hath believed our report, and to 
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? " It is said 
that he left them and departed. 

The same spirit of opposition to Christianity 
prompted them when they came with the question, 



Inquirers Described mid Directed. 255 

"By what authority cloest thou these things, and who 
gave thee this authority?'' This question w^as far 
from being the offspring of an honest desire to be 
well assured of the Saviour's divine mission, but 
was an attempt to excite a controversy and entan- 
gle the Saviour in his talk. With consummate 
address the Saviour, puts a question to them which 
triumphantly closes the dispute. They had reject- 
ed John the Baptist as they now rejected Christ 
and for the same reason, that they were opposed to 
experimental religion. 

So it seems that questions may be asked on the 
subject of religion which are prompted merely by a 
spirit of opposition. The declaration in the text, 
"Every one that asketh receiveth, " does not o£ 
course apply to such cases. No one asking a favor 
of another in such a state of mind could expect to 
obtain it ; nor if he should seek a piece of common 
information with that temper would he have a 
right to look for even a civil answer. Should you 
in this temper ask in the street to be directed, you 
would fail of an answer. Or should you thus knock 
you would be refused admittance. 

Now it will not be denied that some, with this 
feeling of opposition in their hearts, perhaps un- 
conscious to what extent, do inquire on the subject 
of religion. Passages of Scripture sometimes ex- 
cite such a feeling, and lead to questionings in a 
querulous tone. For example, it is written, " Ex- 
cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 



256 Walks to Emmaus. 

his blood, ye have no life in you. Whose eateth 
my flesh, and drinketh my blood hath eternal life ; 
and I will raise him up at the last day." The feel- 
ing which this excites in some is like that of the 
Jews who said, " How can this man give us his flesh 
to eat ? " — instead of sajdng, but with knowledge of 
the full import of the Saviour's words, '' Lord, 
evermore give us this bread ." Parables were used 
for this purpose to try the temper of those who 
heard them. 

So with regard to the doctrines of the Gospel. 
There is a way of asking questions respecting the 
mystery of the Trinity, and the supreme Deity of 
Christ, and the nature and efficacy of the atone- 
ment, which is far from indicating the spirit of a 
humble inquirer. Christ says, '' Except ye receive 
the Kingdom of God as a little child, ye shall in no 
wise enter therein." It is most interesting to notice 
the touching simplicity with which a little child asks 
questions and receives answers. How disposed to 
credulity is a little child; you may say anything 
however astonishing, and the information is re- 
ceived with an expression of wonder, it may be, yet 
with faith. This is the way in which we must ask 
questions in religion and with the same simplicity 
receive knowledge. If we are in doubt upon any 
doctrine of the Bible, we have only to assume a 
childlike disposition with regard to it, and then 
that promise will be fulfilled: ''The meek will he 
guide in judgment the meek will he teach his 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 257 

way." Anything like an angry, sullen, captious, 
disputatious, doubting, temper will surely fail of 
receiving answers of peace. By this, perhaps, we 
may know why we have failed thus far to be set- 
tled in our opinions on the subject of religion, and 
to obtain rest to our souls. We must bow our 
necks, the Saviour tells us. " Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in 
heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." 

II. Another class of those who inquire on the 
subject of religion may be termed careless inquirers. 

To this class we may assign Pontius Pilate, the 
Roman Governor. " Pilate said unto " Jesus, '' Art 
thou a king then ? Jesus answered. Thou sayest 
that I am, a king," — or, I am that which thou say- 
est, namely, a king. '' To this end was I born, and 
for this came I into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the 
truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, 
What is truth?" But without waiting for an an- 
swer he went out. 

His feeling seemed to be. Here is a controversy 
between you, the Christ, and the Jews ; two con- 
flicting systems meet at my tribunal ; how am I to 
know which of them is true ? ' ' Truth ? " he seems 
to say ; — "If any one will decisively settle for us 
that question. What is truth, we may believe. 
Amid the dissensions of religious teachers, the 
name religious truth seems a mere phantom that 



258 Walks to Emmaus. 

mocks our pursuit. What is truth?" In very 
much this spirit many men treat the subject of re- 
ligion. Differences, among Christian denomina- 
tions, they say, make it impossible for them to de- 
termine what is truth, and they feel acquitted of 
any obligation to believe, because there is so much 
controversy and variance of opinion. Some look 
on all Christian sects as mere dogmatists who are 
quarrelling about mysteries which no man can 
solve, and they conclude that the whole duty of 
man consists in doing, as they express it, *' about 
right," by treating others well, and taking the com- 
fort of this life. Still that solemn word of Christ 
remains, '' He that believeth not shall be damned." 
The law of God does not refer merely to our con- 
duct towards men : we have duties to God, and the 
right performance of these depends on the know- 
ing in what relation we stand to him, whether as 
sinners, or as just persons who need no repentance ; 
and what is the method of reconciliation to him. 
We cannot blink these great and solemn ques- 
tions : all our interests for eternity depend on our 
understanding them ; and for this God has provi- 
ded sufficient means in his Holy Word, and in his 
promised Spirit freely given to all who ask aright. 
It is said, how then if God who teaches all who 
seek aright, does it happen that good men differ so 
widely? I answer. Pious men differ about non- 
essentials owing to their different circumstances of 
truth, education, association, habits, tastes; but 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 259 

tliej^ do not differ about one single truth wliicli is 
essential; not one. There are very few truths 
which are essential to salvation. One is, the belief 
in one only living and true God. Good men are 
agreed on that point. Another is, Our fallen and 
sinful and ruined state by nature. Another is, 
The necessity of regeneration ; and another, the 
great fundamental truth of all is. An atonement 
for sin. You cannot find two pious men in any 
age or place who differ with regard to these. They 
who reject these, reject the plain testimony of 
Scripture, by explaining it awa3'\ So that there 
is no discrepancy between Christian believers in 
that which is essential to salvation ; and if Pilate 
asks. What is truth, we tell him, That which all 
believers concur to receive as essential to salvation. 
Let him ask, Where is the sun ; whence comes the 
rain ; whither do the rivers run ; the common ob- 
servation of the world on these questions is no 
more concurrent than is the belief of pious men 
with regard to the only essential question in relig- 
ion. What must I do to be saved? Suppose that 
some are Congregationalists, and others Presbyteri- 
ans, and others Episcopalians, and others Baptists, 
and others Methodists, and one says, ' What is 
truth? I know not what to believe.' They with 
one voice will tell him, — yes with one voice they 
will tell him, '' Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and 
thou shalt be saved." Then you may select a form 
of church government to suit your taste, and your 



260 Walks to Emmaus. 

mode of worship, and be baptized as you please, 
and baptize your cliildren or not — so far as your 
personal salvation is concerned. And while we 
severally believe that the Scriptures are on our side 
and feel sure that we are right and our Christian 
brethren are wrong, we give them cordially the 
right hand of fellowship, believing that, through the 
grace of the Lord Jesus " we shall be saved even 
as they," and they even as we. Some say to you, 
But if you shake the head and say. What is truth, 
— and go out, — know that there is such a thing as 
essential truth, essential to your acceptance with 
God and to your eternal safety ; and that heaven 
and earth shall pass away but Christ's word shall 
not pass away. 

III. Another class of inquirers are the serious. 
ThejT- are a deeply interesting class of persons in 
all our congregations. They may be represented in 
general by Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews. 

One night when the Saviour was in the house, 
the toils of the day being finished, this Jewish 
ruler, a member of the Sanhedrim, a man of wealth, 
as we subsequently read, and of learning and great 
prudence, entered the place where Jesus was sit- 
ting. It was a deeply interesting scene. There 
was the humble man of Nazareth, and before him 
stood one of the dignitaries of the nation. His ad- 
dress is respectful yet cautious. " Rabbi, we know 
that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man 



Inquirers Described and Directed, 261 

can do these miracles which thou doest, except God 
be with him." This was cautious and guarded ; it 
was dignified and reserved; and evidently suited, 
as it was intended, to elicit something from the 
Great Teacher. It was, perhaps, enough for the 
ruler to say, in the beginning ; for he was by no 
means settled in his opinions, and indeed was total- 
ly ignorant with regard to the elements of Christian 
knowledge. But he was not an opposer, nor was 
he a careless inquirer. He was satisfied that the 
Saviour was entitled to a favorable reception ; he 
signified this, and waited for further light. 

How was he rewarded? The Saviour immedi- 
ately announced to him the great truth, the indis- 
pensable necessity of a change of heart. Here we 
have an illustration of the Saviour's unequalled, 
divine skill and kindness as a religious teacher. 
How abrupt seems his reply to that remark of Nico- 
demus : " We know that thou art a teacher come 
from God." " Jesus answered and said unto him, 
Verily, verily I say unto thee. Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." What 
had this to do with the introductory confession of 
Nicodemus ? 

The Saviour saw at once the state of his heart. 
He was a serious inquirer, and Jesus opened to him 
in a moment the necessity of a change of heart. It 
seems as though He would say to him, you have 
come to me to converse on the subject of religion— 
perhaps to discuss certain questions; all this may 



262 Walks to Emmaus. 

be well ill its place ; but there is something else of 
the first importance, and without which all knowl- 
edge is useless, and that is, You must be born 
again. 

You may change your opinions, but still you are 
not prepared for Heaven. You may cease to be a 
Jew and become a nominal Christian, but that is 
not enough. Except a man be born again, he can- 
not see the kingdom of God. 

How much better was this mode of dealing with 
him than to discuss questions about externals, or 
even to prove his Messiahship more fully. The 
Saviour put him immediately upon the work of 
searching his own heart, and using the means of 
conversion. The Saviour did not stop with telling 
him he must be converted ; he told him how he 
must experience it ; and he proceeded to teach him 
the great fundamental truth of an atonement for 
sin. " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up : that whosoever believeth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." What a conver- 
sation ! Oh what an inquiry meeting, though but 
one inquirer was present ! What a model for 
Christian ministers in dealing with inquiring souls, 
and what a guide to all serious inquirers on the 
subject of religion ! 

We are informed in the New Testament history, 
of the consequence of this conversation. Nico- 
demus became a follower of Christ, not openly, but 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 263 

in his place in the Council he interposed a Avord 
which dispersed the excited people. '' Doth our 
law judge any man before it hear him, and know 
what he doeth ? " But a most decisive proof of his 
love to Christ took place at the Saviour's burial. 
He joined with Joseph of Arimathea to entomb the 
body of our Lord, bringing Avith him '' a mixture 
of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds 
weight." There he made a public profession of 
his faith in Christ by taking from the cross, yes, 
the ignominious cross, the body of the insulted 
Jesus, and espousing his cause by giving those 
precious remains an honorable burial. If any of 
my hearers are serious inquirers on the subject of 
religion, let them come to Christ like Nicodemus, 
^ confessing all that they feel, going as far as they 
feel prepared to go, walking according to the light 
which they have received, and they will find that 
he who led Nicodemus into the way of eternal life, 
will bestow the same grace on them. One thing 
in particular they will observe. Nicodemus does 
not seem to have been awakened to any sense of 
his guilt ; he does not cry, " What must I do to be 
saved ? " But he wished to know the truth. He 
had an inquiring mind, and by seeking Christ as 
his great instructor, he found salvation. Though 
you may not have all the vivid feelings you may 
desire, '' Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye 
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto 
you." 



264 Walks to Emmaus, 

IV. There is one other class of inquirers, and 
that is, anxious inquirers. 

The crucifiers of Christ on the day of Pentecost, 
and the Jailor at Philippi, are instances. The for- 
mer, pricked in their hearts, cried, Men and 
brethren, what must we do ? The Jailer at mid- 
night called for a light, and sprang in and came 
trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas, and 
said. Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? These are 
the cases which we love to see, and these are the 
most hopeful as it regards a speedy reconciliation 
to God. It is a state of mind which cannot, in the 
nature of things, last long ; the feelings are too in- 
tense ; there must be relief, and it is soon found 
either in going back to some degree of unconcern, 
or in accepting the offers of mercy through Christ. 
To this state of mind, in some of its forms, it is 
necessary to be brought, in order to accept Christ. 
For to become a Christian is to accept of offered 
mercy ; and who can accept of mercy until he feels 
that he needs it, and how can we feel that we need 
it, until we have some feelings, whatever thej^ may 
be, which will lead us to say, "What must I do to 
be saved? " He, then, that can awake to the full- 
est sense of his need, shall find himself best pre- 
pared to enter into that door of safety which stands 
open to receive him. He who comes to the foun- 
tain with the greatest thirst shall find the greatest 
refreshment. He that comes with no money to the 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 265 

feast, and he alone, shall have " wine and milk 
without money and without price." 

Permit me to ask my hearers, Are any of you in- 
quirers in any sense, with regard to the subject of 
religion? Do you feel the least interest in the 
greatest of all subjects, in the most thrilling truths, 
in these four solemn and awful realities. Death, 
Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, each of which con- 
cerns you personally, as much as any other human 
being. You have many cares and ask many ques- 
tions, it may be, and are anxious about your tem- 
poral concerns, but are you an inquirer with regard 
to religion and eternal life ? Permit me to say, 
affectionately, you should be ; and there is nothing 
which more concerns you than to be such an in- 
quirer. Is all well with you with regard to that 
immortal soul, with its capabilities of joy and sor- 
row? 

" What are thy hopes beyond the grave, 
How stands that dread account ? " 

How is it between you and your God ? Have 
Christ and you ever made a covenant with each 
other ? How do you stand affected with regard to 
the Holy Spirit? Do you know by experience 
what it is to be born again ; to look with an eye of 
faith to Christ, lifted up like the brazen serpent, to 
heal your soul ? Have you understood by experi- 
mental knowledge that '' God so loved the world, 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 



266 Walks to Emmaus. 

lasting life ? " If jom do not know these things, 
can Toii be said to know anything of vital impor- 
tance ? How can yon die as you now are, and what 
will become of you if you should ? 

If you are an inquirer, is it possible that you are 
an opposer of religion, and ask questions with an 
unhappy feeling of hostility ? Remember how the 
Saviour met Saul of Tarsus on his way to Da- 
mascus, and remonstrated with him, and how that 
man became an heir of grace, and now is one of the 
suns in the firmament of Heaven. So you may be 
a happj^ spirit forever ; but be not found, I pray 
you, fighting against God. 

Perhaps you are a careless inquirer, not in earn- 
est, disposed to trifle, orthodox in opinion, and yet 
easily induced to smile at serious things, and turn 
them into pleasantrj^, if not ridicule. How you 
will feel when conscience awakes, and you with 
your clear light and convictions see that you made 
light of the great concerns of eternity. Be per- 
suaded to think and act seriously and decisively ; 
for it is for your life, and thou knowest not what a 
day may bring forth. 

If you are an intellectual inquirer, debating with 
yourself about forms of doctrine and modes of reli- 
gion, remember the Saviour's treatment of Nico- 
demus, and see in it your need, and then direct all 
your efforts to the experience of that great change 
by which you will be fully enlightened on all the 
subject of divine truth, beside being united to 



Inquirers Described and Directed. 267 

Christ by adoption into God's family. Speculate 
till you die, but you cannot enter the kingdom of 
God by that means. Apply to the Holy Ghost for 
the renewal of your nature, and he will seal you, 
through a Saviour's blood, unto the day of redemp- 
tion. 

If I speak now to some soul who feels the bur- 
den of guilt, I have only to say, Christ is more 
ready to forgive you and save you than you are to 
be saved. Dissatisfied with yourself, and conscious 
that you are not what you ought to be, come to 
Christ and find rest unto your soul. Let me lay 
these words of the Saviour like balm on your 
wounded heart : '' For every one that aj^keth, re- 
ceiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him 
that kriocketh, it shall be opened." Surely we 
have no excuse if we do not come to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, or if we fail to secure a part in 
this great salvation. Then " seek ye the Lord 
while he may be found, call ye upon him while he 
is near." Seek him earnestly, as you have sought 
something this week ; then will be fulfilled that 
clear and unequivocal promise, " Ye shall seek me, 
and find me, when ye shall search for me with all 
your heart." 



FEBRUARY. 



Thied Sabbath Morning-. 



-^♦^ 



THE JUSTICE OF PARDON. 

" Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself 
before the high God ? Shall I come before him' with burnt 
offerings, with calves of a year old ? 

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten 
thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my 
transgression, the first of my body for the sin of my soul ? " 

— MicAH 6: 6, 7. 



IT is the natural desire and effort of the awak- 
ened conscience everywhere to know how sin- 
ful man can be at peace with God. If the proph- 
ets themselves, inspired of God, put such questions 
as these : " How shall man be just with God ; " 
and again, " Wherewith shall I come before the 
Lord, and bow myself before the most high God. 

269 



270 Walks to Emmaus. 

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings ? " — 
If holy men proposed such questions, it must be 
that there is in the heart of man a deep-seated so- 
licitude on this subject which will show itself when- 
ever we are convinced of sin. The thoughts of 
our hearts are something like this : I have been a; 
great sinner. God has just occasion to be dis- 
pleased with me for mj^ past life. I never can sat- 
isfy the Most High for past misconduct. Should I 
begin to-day and attempt to be a Christian, I should 
be appalled with the difiSculties of the work. 

Owing to such feelings, many abandon the hope 
of being otherwise than they are. It is a formida- 
ble thing which they have no courage to attempt. 
In some cases there is a sense of guiltiness which 
makes them hide themselves from the thought of 
having anything to do with a holy God. 

How can this difficulty be reached and over- 
come ? We do not see that anything which we can 
do or feel will be a sufficient recompense for our 
sins, and establish suitable relations between our- 
selves and God. Even when we are told that 
there is only one way to be saved; ''neither is 
there salvation in any other, for there is none other 
name under Heaven given among men whereby we 
must be saved ; " and the great revealed truth of 
justification without merit is explained ; in short, 
when we are told that salvation is a free gift, that 
for Christ's sake our past sins will all be forgiven 
without money and without price, and that we 



The Justice of Pardon. 271 

have only to accept of pardon and eternal life 
through Christ, and we shall have them, and that 
all which we can be permitted to do in securing 
salvation is to believe on him who was delivered 
for our offences, and raised again for our justifica- 
tion, — how is this apt to strike our minds ? What 
feelings does it awaken ? In some there is a de- 
cided feeling of repugnance. 

The freeness of the Gospel is with some of us an 
objection to it. 

The reason for this is. We have a sense of justice 
which the freeness of the gospel does not satisfy. We 
feel that it is not right that we should he forgiven 
for nothing. We know that we have sinned. In 
the language of another, we feel disposed to say, 
"I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou 
preserver of men ? " * Sin requires a satisfaction 
to God, but to be pardoned without making any 
such satisfaction appears to us unjust and in every 
way unjustifiable. 

The Gospel as explained seems to us almost like 
going to a penitentiary and saying to the convicts, 
" A ransom has been paid for you, the law is satis- 
fied, you may go free." The innate sense of justice 
revolts at such a step ; the voice of justice rather 
says, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." Could 
we be permitted to suffer in some degree for our 
sins, we would feel that we had made proper satis- 
faction for these offences; but to have free pardon 

*Job 7: 20. 



272 Walks to Ummaiis. 

preached to us does violence to our convictions of 
what is in every way suitable. 

It is common to meet with the objection in con- 
versing with those who are more or less interested 
in seeking their salvation. Tell them to fast, or 
perform any austerity, or to read and pray ; in 
short, perform any duty in order to be at peace, 
and they will gladly do it. They cannot feel that 
it is right for them to be forgiven and saved with- 
out being made to do or suffer something which 
will constitute a recompense for all the evil which 
they have done. 

My subject is. The Justice of Pardon. 

What suffering or punishment would any of us 
suppose would be a just recompense for our sins ? 
We feel that we ought to satisfy the Most High 
God for such a life as ours. We feel that is no 
light thing which can be an adequate atonement 
on our part for our sins. Sometimes, perhaps, we 
feel that anything short of endless punishment 
we would willingly endure, either to expiate our 
guilt, and make what we feel to be a just satisfac- 
tion to God, or to procure Heaven. Command us 
to do anything, and we will do it, to be at peace 
with God, to escape hell and secure Heaven. 

We will meet our hearts on their own ground 
and reason with them. Suppose that in order to 
save our souls, God requires of us that we submit 
to be put to death by crucifixion. In ordei* to do 
this, we are hurried through the form of a trial 



The Justice of Pardon. 273 

with all possible injustice and cruelty, and con- 
demned to die. Before the dreadful hour arrives, 
our friends all flee from us and leave us sitting 
among some people ignorant, and coarse, and malig- 
nant, who have great spite against us, and take 
that opportunity to express it. They strike us 
with their hands ; one or two of them deliberately 
spit in our face ; then requiring amusement to re- 
lieve the monotony of their malice, they blindfold 
our eyes, and taking turns to strike us, make us 
guess which of them inflicted the blow. Then 
they put upon us a dress which has some ludicrous 
appearance of state and pomp, and make obeisance 
with what an English poet calls '' grinning infamy " 
in their faces. By this time we would probablj^ 
begin to think. This is the lowest depth of igno- 
miny. Were there ever forms of degradation be- 
yond these ? 

But the tragedy is not over. We must die, and 
die by crucifixion, which scientific men tell us is 
the most exquisite torture, and more painful than 
any other death. The}^ lay a cross on the ^artli, 
and with nails and hammer fasten each hand to the 
transverse beam, and fixing our feet one over the 
other, drive a spike through them both. They lift 
the cross in the air, and set it violently in the hole 
dug for it in the earth ; the blood streams down 
in rills ; and in bodily pain we writhe several 
hours before death comes to our release. Who are 
these by our side ? Two liighwaymen whoju our 



274 Walks to Emmaus.- 

executioners have taken the opportunity to gibbet 
^Yith us ; and so we die with pain of bod}' and an- 
guish of mind to the utmost pitch of suffering. 

All this is to atone for our sins. Would we sup- 
pose after all this, that we had been punished 
enough ? We sliould say, I could not be punished 
more except by protracting my sufferings, and 
keeping me, as it were, on this lake of fire. 

What effect would all this have on our mind ? 
We should say, " I have not satisfied my moral 
sensibilities. I deserved all this, but I do not yet 
feel at peace with God. I doubt whether anything 
I can do will be a sufficient recompense for my 
guilt." Then what can be done to save us ? It 
appears that our own sufferings can not do it. We 
object to be forgiven for nothing, and yet we can- 
not satisf}^ God or ourselves by any recompense we 
can offer. And yet we are unwilling to be for- 
given for nothing. We still demand satisfaction 
to divine justice. 

But now the righteousness of God without the 
law^ i» manifested. We are not, we cannot be for- 
given for nothing. It cost more to offer pardon to 
us freely, than anj^thing Avhich God ever did. 
There is one who suffered for us that which I have 
now described as our own punishment. We are 
not forgiven but at an expense which no created 
intellect can compute. " Without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission." One took our place 



^he Justice of Pardon. 275 

and bore our sins in his own body on the tree. 
Ponder those words : '' Who his own self bore our 
sins in his own body on the tree." Who was this 
suffering mediator ? 

"- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The same 
was in the beginning with God. All things were 
made by him ; and without him was not anything 
made that was made. And the Word was made 
flesh and dwelt among us." '• By whom also he 
made the worlds ; who being the brightness of his 
glory and the express image of his person, and up- 
holding all things by the word of his power, when 
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on 
the right hand of the Majesty on high. Being 
made so much better than the angels, as he hath 
by inheritance obtained a more excellent name 
than they." The history of his atoning death, how 
perfectly familiar to us all ! We behold him cov- 
ered with shame and the lowest ignominy. We 
see him nailed and pierced and dying on the cross 
between two thieves. This was all for us. 

" For me these pangs his soul assail, 
For me this death was borne ; 
My sins gave sharpness to the nail, 
And pointed every thorn.'* 

Does not the Scripture justify this ? Yes, in 
these words and many other places. '' He was 
wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised 



276 Walks to Ummaus. 

for our iniquities : the chastisement of our pea^e 
was upon him ; and with his stripes we are 
healed." 

And now will we complain that free forgiveness 
is too easy a way of salvation ? It is easy for us, — 
but was it easy for the Redeemer? It costs us 
nothing. But what did it cost him ! We are par- 
doned and saved, as it were, for nothing on our 
part but the acceptance of it, and the consequent 
love which we will feel for it ; but we were not re- 
deemed at a light price. ''Ye were not redeemed 
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with 
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without 
blemish and without spot." No, we cannot plead 
when God offers us pardon and Heaven without 
money and without price : — This is unjust. I 
have not made satisfaction to God. This is like a 
delivery of prisoners from jail, without regard to 
justice and character. 

But we may say, It is still true that I do noth- 
ing toward my redemption, and I feel that I should 
make some recompense to God for my sins. If we 
make any, we must make a just recompense. We 
must do all which we can. Now what in the nat- 
ure of things is that ? God alone can teach us on 
this point. The lawyer only is adequate to tell us 
what the penalty is which he has affixed to the vio- 
lation of his law. Should we undertake to recom- 
pense God for our sins, we must lie down forever 
in hell. " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 



The Justice of Pardon, 211 

" Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
things which are written in the book of the law to 
do them." Christ will sa}^ to those who are not 
redeemed, " Depart from me ye cursed into ever- 
lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." 
Thus we see what the proper recompense to Divine 
justice would be should we undertake to make it. 
Can we make it ? Will we make it? " Who among 
us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? Who 
among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? " 
The law of God is the law of the universe, and 
must be maintained. Can we satisfy that law? 
Yes, by our everlasting punishment, and by noth- 
ing short of it, as the final Judge shows in the 
twenty-fifth of Matthew. 

Now if our sense of justice makes us unwilling 
to be forgiven unless we can satisfy divine justice, 
we must prepare ourselves for the sacrifice, and be 
a whole burnt offering forever. So that we come 
to this alternative : Will we satisfy divine justice, 
or shall another satisfy it ? On this question the 
world is divided into two classes, believers and unbe- 
lievers. All of the second class are trying some 
other way to atone for their sins than God has pro- 
vided. They have helped to prove the doctrine of 
atonement without formally attempting to do so. 

This sense of justice, this unwillingness to be 
forgiven for nothing, all these efforts to find or 
make some recompense to God for our past wick- 
edness, in short, this inquir}^, '' Wherewith shall 



278 Walks to Ummaus. 

we come before the Lord and bow ourselves before 
the Most High God,"and this looking about for 
thousands of rams and rivers of oil, and Lebanons 
and the first born for an offering to God for sin, 
is a very strong presumptive evidence in favor of 
an atonement. It is presumptive evidence in this 
respect and thus far : That it shows an atonement 
to be in accordance with our natural feelings; 
there is a mutual adaptedness between them. 
This, however, is not the proof on which that great 
truth of an expiatory sacrifice depends. The proof 
is in the express declarations of the Bible. " When 
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ 
died for the ungodly." " Whom God hath set 
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his 
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission 
of sins that are past, through the forbearance of 
God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteous- 
ness : that he might be just, and the justifier of 
him which believeth in Jesus." " God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." " He that believeth shall be 
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." 
" And he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not 
for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
world." 

No doubt it is more agreeable to our natural 
feelings to be our own saviours. It is extremely 



The Justice of Pardon. 279 

humbling to admit that we can do nothing in the 
way of satisfying divine justice. Atiemptmg to do 
this, many spend years of fruitless effort ; and with- 
out any question, there are some here Avho have 
thus far been kept out of the kingdom of Heaven 
by efforts to work out their own justification, 
rather than be dependent on the righteousness of 
another. " For they -being ignorant of God's right- 
eousness, and going about to establish. their own 
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto 
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of 
the law for righteousness to everyone that believ- 
eth."* 

The simple truth contained in the gospel is this : 
'' When we were yet without strength, in due time 
Christ died for the ungodly." This expresses the 
sum and substance of the gospel. The ungodly, — 
we are all such by nature. We wej*e without 
strength, had no power to satisfy divine justice ; 
then Christ died for us. He bare our sins in his 
own body on the tree. So that the only condition 
of being saved is thus expressed : " To him that 
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth 
the ungodlj^, his faith is counted for righteous- 
ness." f This is free grace ; we are pardoned if 
we confess our sins for Christ's sake, provided we 
lAy on him, and accept him as the substitute for 
us in view of divine justice. Suppose, now, that 

*Homaiis 10: 3, 4. 
t Romans 4: 5. 



280 Walks to Emmaus. 

you are seeking to be saved, as some of you are. 
What should you do, and how should you feel ? 
You should go to God just as you are, without 
waiting to be better, confess that you have nothing 
to recommend you to him, but you have sinned 
and must perish without his help; then signify 
your acceptance of God's righteousness to be im- 
puted to you, and plead the -sufferings and death 
of Christ as the reason why you ask and hope to be 
forgiven. In this way alone will you ever be 
saved. All the ransomed spirits in glory were 
saved in this way, and casting their crowns before 
Clmst, they say, " Thou art worthy, for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
nation." 

Why should you object to being saved in this 
way ? Perhaps you say, It is too simple. It is ex- 
ceedingly simple. It is wonderfully simple. Be- 
lieving on a suffering Redeemer, and accepting this 
death as an atonement for your sins, you are justi- 
fied and saved. Is this simplicity in the plan of 
redemption an objection to it? Simplicity charac- 
terizes all the natural works of God. Think of the 
solar system. Here is a central sun and planets 
revolving around him, crossing, some of them, the 
orbits of others, yet preserving their proper dis- 
tances, exactly fulfilling their appointed times. 
Think of this huge earth hung on nothing, flying 
through space with such inconceivable velocity, 



The Justice of Pardon. 281 

and other planets in like manner, going round the 
sun. What complicated machinery, what stupen- 
dous clock-work is it which keeps this S3'stem in its 
order? There is none. It is the simple law of 
gravitation. All bodies tend to the centre. The 
planets incline to fall into the sun, but the force of 
their revolution throws them off, and these two 
tendencies balance each other, and so they % 
through space, and the hours and all the beautiful 
vicissitudes of day and night and seasons are the 
consequence. What simplicity ! Does this offend 
you ? Neither should the simplicity of the gospel. 
By nature men are all like Naaman, the Sj^rian. 
" Are^not Abana and Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, 
better than all the waters of Israel? " 

But you say, this leaves men no work to do. 
What would you do, poor worm, should you under- 
take to satisfy God for your rebellion ? We have 
already answered this question. You must die, 
crushed beneath the penalty of your sins. In a 
burning dwelling at midnight, surrounded by 
smoke and fire, if a friend should come to bear 
you in his arms to a place of safety at the risk of 
his own life, you might as well say. This leaves me 
nothing to do for my salvation. '' True," he re- 
plies, " only give yourself up to me." Yes, you 
can do something ; can you not love the Friend 
who died for vou? 

Are you willing to be saved in God's way ? He 
has provided a way which cost an infinite price. 



282 Walks to JSmmaus, 

Sucli sufferings were never endured ; and such hu- 
miliation and such a sacrifice made by the coequal 
son in your nature never can be equalled. God is 
satisfied with it, however men may feel about it. I 
repeat : " God so loved the world that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
Will you be saved in this way ? Are you willing to 
surrender yourself into the hands of your God, 
pleading the merits of Jesus, and hoping for par- 
don because he has died? 

In view of what has been said, we must admit, 

1. That if we are not saved, it will not be the 
fault of God. He has made full atonement for 
sins. He has made a great supper, and bidden 
manj^, " Come, for all things are ready." '' He 
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
life." Then, 

2. If we are not saved, it* must be our own 
fault. What can the reason be ? 

The reason will be, perhaps, we are not willing 
to be saved on these terms. To the last some pre- 
scribe to God how to save them, and these he 
justly leaves to perish. " For other foundation can 
no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 

Or else we are unwilling to believe that sin can 
be forgiven in this way. It may seem too much to 
believe — that God will forgive sin so freely. If 
we take this ground, we must remember that un- 
believing lord who was trodden down in the gates 



The Justice of Pardon. 283 

of Samaria, because lie would not believe the prom- 
ise of God concerning the relief from famine.* 

Or we may feel no interest in this whole subject 
and Christ may have died in vain. But whatever 
the reason may be, be ye sure of this. The Lamb 
of God has been slain. Heaven is offered to you 
freely, purchased, however, by the sacrifice of him 
who is the light and joy. of Heaven. 

The greatest thing which the universe ever saw 
was your redemption. And now is Christ on the 
right hand of power, from whence he will come to 
judge the world. O, if you neglect so great sal- 
vation, it will be good for you had you never been 
born. But if you are willing to be saved, come in 
the right way. Renounce yourself and your works, 
and take Christ and his righteousness, and be not 
faithless but believing. Trembling sinner, Jehovah 
himself is your righteousness. Only believe. 
'' Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

*2 Kings 7: 2, 17-20. 



FEBRUARY. 



Thied Sabbath Afternoon. 



-<♦>- 



PETER PRAYED OUT OF PRISON- 



** Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made 
without ceasing of the church unto God for him/' 

Acts 12: 5. 

IT would seem difficult, if not impossible, to ac- 
count for the failure of truth to bring one and 
another to Christ, without supposing that some su- 
pernatural agency frustrates these efforts. Wil- 
lingness to hear, candid admission of the truth, the 
use of outward means, secret prayer, and every- 
thing else that is hopeful would lead you to expect 
the speedy acceptance of the gospel by many. Yet 
no impression is made upon them, leading them to 
repentance and faith in Christ. The agency of a 
powerful wicked spirit, the foe of God and man, is 
manifest in the pages of the Bible. '' The god of 

285 



286 Walks to Emmaus. 

this world hath blended the minds of them that 
believe not, lest tlie light of the glorious gospel of 
Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them." 2 Cor. 4: 4.* 

He of course selects with care the objects of his 
special arts. This object is to prevent good as well 
as to do harm. He specially charges his agents of 
mischief to hinder the conversion of one who 
would do great good in the world. The mere cir- 
cumstance of the conversion of some young person 
would exert great influence. A large class, a 
whole school would feel the shock. While in sin 
he is like a pillar, which if taken away would cause 
the downfall of one of Satan's strongholds, in a 
circle of young people. Busy, like one who has 
vast interests at stake, Satan or his subalterns must 
prevent that young person from being converted. 
Let that gifted, zealous Roman Catholic be con- 
verted, and another Luther on a small scale would 
rise up and batter down the walls of the man of 
sin. On no account must that soul be allowed to 
desert. If that wit whose sayings excite laughter 
in room after room of a large establishment, should 
become a praying man, one third, at least, of his 
fellow workmen, would probably follow Christ. 
Crafty devices are used to keep him from follow- 
ing Christ. The love of Christ once enkindled in 
the heart of that liberal, wealthy man will cause 

* See also 1 Peter, 5:8; Ephesians 2:1, 2, etc. 



Peter Prayed Out of Prison, 287 

him to devise liberal things. There would be a 
handful of corn from his hands in the top of one 
mountain after another, the fruit whereof would 
shake like Lebanon. Were that intelligent mother 
to become a praying woman, her only and promis- 
ing son would be consecrated to Christ, and who 
can measure the good he might accomplish, and 
the happiness of that mother in Heaven ? A pro- 
fessional man or a father of a large family, an edi- 
tor, or a collegian, or a most estimable merchant ; 
and then, at the other pole of society, a powerful 
woman in some degraded neighborhood, — if she or 
all of these, with whom, severally. Christian efforts 
have been used, should be converted, Peter's re- 
lease from his prison were hardly more important 
to those immediately concerned. 

Is there no way in which we can foil Satan and 
effect the deliverance of his captives, the opening 
of the prison doors to them that are bound? 
Peter's deliverance affords an answer to this ques- 
tion. 

It is a good picture which the masters of paint- 
ing have given us, — the Roman soldiers stretched 
in slumber, their helmets Ij'ing by, their short 
swords in their sheaths at their sides, a dim lamp 
disclosing their brawny faces, and between them 
the large head always recognized in pictures as 
that of Simon Peter. Sleep had laid a chain over 
them all, stronger even than the two chains which 
went each from the apostle's arm to the arm of a 



288 Walks to Emmaus. 

soldier. Ho^Y much alike the three appear. They 
breathe alike, alike the}" dream, and to none of the 
three does it matter anything, for the time, whether 
their bed be a prison floor or goat's hair. But to 
the eye of God and ministering angels the differ- 
ence between one of these men and the other two 
is infinite. The hour draws nigh when that divine 
appreciation is to be made known. 

So it is with some future heir of grace. God 
loves him as really as he loved Peter, though he is 
now dead in trespasses and sins. And such were 
some of you. " And you hath he quickened who 
were dead in trespasses and sins." God who is 
rich in mercy for the great love wherewith He hath 
loved him, will quicken that soul together with 
Christ, that in the ages to come He maj^ show the 
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness 
toward him through Christ Jesus. 

When the appointed angel drew near unseen 
into Herod's prison, and stood and looked at the 
sleeping group, and waited for the moment when 
he should disclose his heavenly light, his love for 
Peter was no greater than he now feels towards 
one who is soon to be redeemed from Satan's 
chains and future prison. Bring music and pre- 
pare a song ; let the morning stars sing together, 
and all the sons of God shout for joy. A soul is to 
be born again. 

While in the closing verse of the first chapter of 
the epistle to the Hebrews, it is implied that angels 



Peter Prayed Out of Prison, 289 

minister to all Avho are to inherit Heaven, we can 
not doubt that ministering angels also perform ser- 
vices in Christ's name for those who shall hereafter 
believe on him to life everlasting. Paul was con- 
verted for such.* They keep them from death. 
This is the reason why some were not cut off in 
their sins, when others perished ; why they were 
kept in temptation, were insensible under fierce 
assaults of solicitation ; why they did not go to a 
certain place at a certain time, or why they 
strangely missed a call. In Heaven they will see 
how the good hand of God was over their trans- 
gressions, and how he gave angels charge over 
them to keep them in all their ways, and how they 
bore them up in their hands lest at any time they 
should dash their foot against a stone. 

Indulge yourselves, O future heirs of grace, in 
thinking what you will do when you are con- 
verted ! By what acts of love and gratitude you 
will show your sense of God's infinite and unde- 
served mercy to your soul ! Consider whom you 
will seek to save, to whom you will go and renew 
broken friendships, make acknowledgements, re- 
pair the evil done by bad example, and thus be at 
peace and love with all, so that in your relations to 
others, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir 
tree, and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree. O 
happy souls, who are soon to find yourselves in a 
new world of love, and joy, and peace. 

* 1 Timothy, 1 : IG. . 



290 Walks to Ummaus. 

Now they are the prisoners of Satan, asleep, 
bound with chains, and the keepers before the door 
keep the prison. Tliey think themselves free ; go 
where they please, do what they will ; enjoy the 
world, rejoice in their liberty. But they are dream- 
ing. It is not so. They are fast asleep, and are 
talking in their sleep. But to bQ dreaming in a 
prison, to be talking in one's sleep of happiness, 
when chains are on us and guards are about us, is 
sad to a spectator. They are under condemnation. 
This night may be their last, as Herod, we are 
told, meant that that night should be Peter's last. 
Rescue seems hopeless. Oh, what power on earth 
can make them Christians ? There is none, abso- 
lutely none. All means have been tried and 
failed. 

There is a chamber where a human form is bend- 
ing low in prayer with covered face, and there may 
be heard strong cryings with tears. Your name, 
unconverted friend, is mixed with them. There is 
another place where a little company of such per- 
sons is met together; this name and others are 
mentioned, and they fall upon their knees in sup- 
plication. "• Before they call," says God, '' I will 
answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will 
hear." Oh love the Lord, ye his saints, for there 
is no want to them that fear Iiim. 

Historians tell us that seven cities contended for 
the honor of being the birthplace of Homer, and 
which place had the best of the argument. But 



Peter Prayed Out of Prison. 291 

this is of no interest in Heaven compared with the 
question where that church prayer-meeting was 
held, which prayed Peter out of prison. Luke, in 
writing the Acts, is verj^ particular to identify the 
house. It was at the house of Mary, the mother of 
John, whose surname was Mark. Now there were 
many Marys. 

" Beautiful name! * 'for she to whom it first was given, 
Was half of earth and half of Heaven." 

But it is not every mother by that name who has 
a John, and of those Johns it would be rare to 
find in a place, more than one who was surnamed 
Mark. So that the place of the prayer meeting is 
fixed, the place where this miracle of prayer was 
wrought out. 

When angels undertake anything, how well they 
do it. Those angels who officiated at the resurrec* 
tion of Jesus, how well they moved that great 
stone, and how carefully they wrapped up the 
grave-clothes; and the napkin that was about the 
head they laid not with the linen clothes, but they 
wrapped it together in a place by itself. That gave 
the finishing stroke to John's unbelief, at the sep- 
ulclire. Thieves, thought he, have not been here. 
They would have flung the napkin anj^where. It 
required an angel to fold or wrap that napkin. 
Likewise in this prison scene * '' The Angel of 
the Lord . . . smote Peter on the side and raised 

* Verses 7 and 8. 



292 Walks to Ummaus. 

him up, saying, Arise up quickly." Down fell the 
chains on the prison floor, but he hath stopped their 
ears, like the wicked, that they cannot hear. The 
angel is in no haste. He waits for Peter to dress 
himself. It took some time for him to fix his gir- 
dle ; then to tie his sandals, then to cast his gar- 
ment about him, the angel standing by the while 
to see him deliberately dressing himself. The most 
wonderful and beautiful thing was that last outer 
gate which opened to them of his own accord. 
Luke is a wonderful writer. This is not a poem 
but prose, and yet here is a poetic creation and 
touch. The iron gate opened to them of his own 
accord. Iron gates are instinct with life where 
angels go. 

From Satan's prison house on earth to a prayer- 
meeting, there is a very short way, as you will 
learn when you get your release. 

Victory ! Victory ! Peter is prayed out of prison. 
Behold, my friends, as in a glass, yourselves re- 
lieved from chains and death. It is no parable. 
Some of you are to be converted, and very soon. 
For something has smitten one and another on the 
side. You are awakened. Now notice the beauti- 
ful doctrine of free agency, how it plays in like a 
vein in marble, or like a part in music, everywhere 
in the Word of God. The Saviour knocking at 
the door says, " If any man will open the door ; " 
the man opens the door. There is something for 
the sinner to do in conversion. So now the angel 



Peter Prayed Out of Prison. 293 

makes Peter dress himself. Peter did not say, If 
I am elected I will escape, girdle, sandals, garment 
or not. No. You are a free agent. How the un- 
believing world wish for the angel to fix his girdle 
for him, and tie his sandals and put on him his 
outer garment. God does honor to our manhood ; 
he exercises our powers in conversion ; we are not 
to be saved as babes are saved from a fire ; we are 
to be serviceable to God, yielding our natures as 
instruments of righteousness unto God, as those 
that are alive from the dead.* Follow me, says 
the angel to Peter, and Peter had no metaphysical 
questions to ask, as how spirits can pass through 
stone walls, or whether they have a magnetic 
power over iron. If you are smitten, any of you, 
on your side, rise up and go, and have the liberty 
of the sons of God. 

There will be no small stir in Satan's prison- 
house when some of you are converted. He meets 
with great losses and afflictions of late. Those 
two soldiers were petrified with fear when they 
woke. How they cast their eyes around and 
above. No girdle, no sandals, no garment, no 
Peter. Out they go to the keepers, and the keep- 
ers did not know but that Peter was safe in jail, 
and all of them laid their heads on the block, and 
never knew in this world why they were punished. 
Oh, the mysteries of redeeming mercy. There is 

♦Romans 6: 13. 



294 Walks to Emmaus. 

not a Christian here whose deliverance is not as 
wonderful as Peter's deliverance. God, and Christ, 
and tlie Hol}^ Spirit, and praying people all had a 
part in your salvation. 

There is no religion in praying at people ; nor is 
it well except in the most private and tender man- 
ner to tell them that you pray for them. 

I have known meetings composed of those who 
have one or more unconverted friends, whose con- 
version they earnestly desired, — each one who at- 
tended bringing a name or names which he read to 
the little company ; not one spectator present, no 
one who did not bring in his heart the burden of 
one or more souls, the object of the meeting being 
as specific as that of a prayer meeting which prayed 
Peter out of prison. What preparations of heart 
are needed in those who attend such a meeting. 
First settling it with God that they had used 
proper efforts. God does no man's work for him. 
I wish there were more two and two praying souls. 
But Christ has given us the idea, work for him.* 
Do not tell me that relates to miracles. Two im- 
perfect human beings, apostles or not, agree to ask 
God for a thing, no matter what, or where, or under 
what circumstances, it being consistent, of course, 
with reason and ordinarj^ propriety, and it is done 
for them. That is enough. God hearkens to the 
voice of united prayer. O for faith to make trial 

* MattliewlS: 19. 



Peter Prayed Out of Prison, 295 

of this promise. It would be well if by two and 
two, Christians would thus agree. There are some 
temptations and hindrances in a social meeting 
which two praying souls do not encounter. That 
prayer meeting for Peter was melted down into 
something like two congenial souls, that is, with 
just enough of the social element to give excite- 
ment, while the intenseness of desire gives it unity. 
How they must have prayed. Prayer meetings 
seem to have had strange effects on prisons in 
those days. Paul and Silas held one in prison, and 
there came an earthquake and shook it, and every 
man's chains were unloosed. Peter's friends prayed 
and there was an earthquake. Oh, these earth- 
quake prayer meetings ! when we feel so deeply 
that there is more prayer than speaking, more la- 
boring with God than with man. Lord, teach us 
to pray. 

Who of you is next to be converted, or whose 
friend ? God knows. It is you, perhaps, whom 
this narrative of Peter's release has kindly smitten, 
and will cause to arise up quickly. Follow the 
secret impulses of your hearts, and chains, and 
guards, and walls, and gates will recede from you, 
amd you will wist not what is done unto you. The 
angel departed forthwith from Peter, and left him 
to his free agency. Let each unconverted one 
pray, '' Bring my soul out of prison, that I may 
praise thy name." Oh awake, thou that sleepest, 
and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee 
life. 



FEBRUARY. 



Fourth Sabbath Moening. 



■4.0H 



THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN. 



** — The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it." 

Revelation 22: 3. 

HEAVEN and Redemption are, in these words 
and in all the Scriptures, most intimately as- 
sociated. All the representations which we have 
of Heaven make the impression that it is charac- 
terized by redemption. There is a place in the 
universe which is distinguished from all other 
places as the peculiar dwelling-place of God. The 
place of the throne is the monarch's peculiar place, 
and this identification of the monarch w^ith his 
throne is used in the Bible to express the place of 
God's peculiar presence. It might be that the om- 
nipresence of God forbids the supposition that 
there is any place which is peculiarly the place of 
297 



298 Walks to Einmaus. 

his presence. But the very omnipresence of God 
would seem to make it necessary that there should 
be one place where God is peculiarly manifest. 
We are not to suppose that God is a mere atmos- 
phere universally diffused, without any personal 
manifestation ; for finite creatures then could have 
no satisfaction in beholding him. Then our hopes 
and expectation of seeing God would be disap- 
pointed. We are taught that one point of differ- 
ence between earth and Heaven will be that, 
whereas on earth we walk by faith and not by 
sight, in Heaven God will dwell with us and be 
oiu? God, and we shall see his face. It is safe to 
assert that every one, in thinking of Heaven, thinks 
of it as the place where God, in a peculiar manner 
manifests himself, and where angels and the spirits 
of just men behold him in light which no man can 
approach unto and live. When Jeremiah Evarts 
was dying, he exclaimed, '' Oh, the face of God ! " 

This in part, is doubtless meant when it is said 
that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be 
in it, — that is, a peculiar, personal manifestation 
of God. It follows that inasmuch as the redeemed 
are to dwell in Heaven, they will be in that place 
where the throne of God stands, the place where 
God chooses to reveal his presence, and as the con- 
text expresses it where they shall see his face.*^ 

There is reason to believe that angels and re- 
deemed men will constitute the only inhabitants of 
Heaven. 

Angels seem to be natives of the place ; but 



The Inhabitants of Heaven. 299 

even they are represented as being a part of the 
preparation of that world, with a view to another 
order of beings who are the objects of its design. 
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? " 
The angels are God's ministers of providence and 
grace. No other order of beings except angels is 
represented in the Scriptures as inheriting that 
world of glory except redeemed men There are 
many passages which speak of angels and men as 
the inhabitants of Heaven, a few of which will 
suggest others. 

The Apostle says in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
" Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the citj'' 
of the living God, .• . . and to an innumerable com- 
pany of angels, and to the spirits of just men made 
perfect." These are the only created beings spoken 
of as inhabiting the Heavenly world. 

In the Revelation we never hear of any other 
order of beings as t)elonging to the heavenly world, 
except angels and men. John saw a multitude 
which no man could number, out of every nation, 
and kingdom, and tongue, and people. He also be- 
held and lo, the voice of many angels round about 
the throne, and the number of them was ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands. In such descriptions of Heaven it seems 
probable that if there were other inhabitants there, 
we should have had some account of their sympa- 



300 Walks to Emmaus. 

thy and union with the scenes which are repre- 
sented as transphing there. 

It is the general supposition that other worlds 
besides this earth are inhabited. There seems to 
be no reason wh}^ of all the planets revolving round 
a common centre one only, and that an inferior 
one should be made to be occupied. When we see 
several houses in a street resembling each other, 
though differing in size and splendor, no one sus- 
pects that one is habitable and made to be inhab- 
ited, and the rest are not so. It seems natural to 
suppose that the same wise and benevolent God 
who has peopled this earth with intelligent crea- 
tures, and also with forms of skill and beauty in the 
irrational creatures, imparting the pleasures of ex- 
istence to countless myriads of organic things, has 
permitted the overflowings of his benevolence to 
fill other worlds with living beings ; and thus that 
the universe is full of intelligent creatures, distrib- 
uted amons^ the uncounted worlds which astron- 
omy has either revealed, or has led us to believe 
exist beyond the reach of science. " Is there any 
number of his armies ? and upon whom doth not 
his light arise ? " If so, can it be that none of these 
innumerable orders of beings inhabit the heavenlj'- 
world, the metropolis of this vast creation, the 
Monarch's seat, the place of the throne of the uni- 
verse, except angels and men ? If so, can any 
reason be assigned for it ? 

One thing will strike every one as just and true. 



The Inhabitants of Heaven. 301 

There is an obvious reason why some other place 
of residence than this world should be provided for 
redeemed men. We are assured by revelation that 
these heavens and this earth are " reserved unto fire 
against the day of judgment and perdition of un- 
godly men. . . . The heavens being on fire shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fer- 
vent heat. . . . The earth also and the works that 
are therein shall be burned up." 

In preparation for tliis catastrophe, " the souls of 
believers are, at their death, made perfect in holi- 
ness, and do immediateh^ pass into glory ; and their 
bodies being still united to Christ, do rest in their 
graves till the resurrection." At the last day their 
bodies will be raised incorruptible, and the living 
saints will undergo a corporeal change. Before the 
destruction of the world begins, they will together 
be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so 
will they ever be with the Lord. Now where will 
they be ! Three answers are possible : — Taken to 
the renovated earth, to some other planet, or to 
Heaven. Listead of being returned to earth, or 
transferred to some other planet, the Bible makes the 
impression that they will be received into the im- 
mediate presence of God, whither the souls of all 
the pious dead have, with Jesus the forerunner, 
already entered. 

One obvious reason why the inhabitants of no 
other planet are found in Heaven, may be their 
places of residence are not under the curse of sin, 



302 Walks to Emmaus. 

or doomed to destruction. The earthly house of 
their tabernacle not being dissolved, thej need no 
other building of God, a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens, than those which 
they now occupy. If they now retain, as there is 
reason to suppose, their allegiance to God, God no 
doubt dwells among them, as he did with our first 
parents in the Garden of Eel en. Whether they 
have the power or permission to visit the place 
where God's throne is revealed, of course we can- 
not tell, though we may suppose it probable. 
Happy in their unfallen state, they love and serve 
God amid wonderful and glorious works. But 
here is a fallen race. A part of this race is to be 
saved. And to these redeemed men is assigned 
the privilege of dwelling in the immediate presence 
of God. 

This is a subject for profound astonishment, and 
a theme for meditation. The natural feeling is, 
It cannot be so. " When I consider thy heavens, 
the work of thy fingers, . . . what is man, that 
thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, 
that thou visitest him ? " Here is a planet which 
is one of the smallest in our planetary system. 
Why of all the worlds should earth be thus distin- 
guished? Why of all races of creatures should 
man be exalted near the throne of the universe ? 

Instead of answering this question, I would open 
still greater mysteries of it ; but yet that very 
mystery will serve to confirm our faith in what has 



The Inhabitants of Heaven. 303 

now been said. Why, of all the orders of created 
beings, should man be distinguished hj the act of 
redemption ? Now there is nothing so wonderful 
in the exclusive admission of man to Pleaven as 
there is in one undoubted truth, which is without 
controversy great, namely : God was manifest in 
the flesh. Man has exerted an influence upon the 
throne of God itself; man may be said to have 
made Heaven what it is ; for the throne of Heaven 
is called the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
The Lamb is the Redeemer of men. The Lamb is 
Jesus of Nazareth, the friend of James and John, 
of Lazarus and his sisters ; your friend and Sav- 
iour. He is on the throne of Heaven. Why 
should we wonder that man should be admitted to 
the Heaven of heavens, if Jesus lives and reigns on 
the throne of the universe ? It seems that human 
nature is capable of this close alliance Avith the 
Godhead ; shall we, then, despise our nature ? It 
has properties, it has a capacity, by which God^can 
dwell in personal union with it, as the infinite 
Word, who is God, does in the person of the man 
Christ Jesus. Redeemed men are admitted to the 
Heaven of heavens because the throne of the uni- 
verse which is there is the throne of God and of 
the Lamb. 

I have not advanced anything which you will 
not say is obviously true and familiar. None of us, 
perhaps, ever supposed that there were other in- 
habitants in Heaven besides angels and redeemed 



304 Walhs to Emmaus, 

sinners. The Bible certainly intimates nothing 
which would lead ns to infer that there are any- 
other orders of beings there. But though this is 
an obvious and simple truth, it will be seen that it 
is rich in interest and instruction. 

T. It is perfectly in accord with the spirit of the 
Gospel in the teachings of Christ, for example, the 
parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, 
and the prodigal son. 

II. If angels and redeemed men alone inhabit 
the Heaven of heavens with God, I remark, God 
has bestowed great honor upon our nature. 

We have as yet no adequate conceptions of the 
future dignity of man as a redeemed sinner. We 
look at ourselves, allied by a fleshly nature to the 
lower orders of creation, with corruptible bodies 
debased by the fall. We think of ourselves as sin- 
ners, polluted, odious : the thought of honor or 
dignity in connection with such natures seems pre- 
posterous. But we are the offspring of God, body 
and soul. " In the image of God created He him." 
And though marred by the fall, these natures can 
and will be renewed by God. Our bodies he will 
consign to the earth to sleep there for thousands of 
years, and mix with the dust as they were, so that 
when they are raised again there will be all the 
difference between them and our present bodies 
which there is between a corrupt kernel of grain 
and a new shock of corn. There will be a corres- 
ponding change in our spirits. Created anew by 



The Inhabitants of Heaven, 305 

the Hol}^ Spirit in the image of God, they v/ill at 
death be made perfectly holy, and we shall be as 
fully prepared to commune with God face to face 
as angels are. 

Redemption shows the estimate which God has 
of our nature. A man does not ordinarily redeem 
a thing at a great price. When we see a piece of 
raw material, whether it be ore or precious wood, 
or a tusk of ivgry, and are astonished at the price 
paid for it, we are sure that the purchaser expects 
to make something costly and precious out of it. 
We were not redeemed with corruptible things as 
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of 
Christ ; and he who became our ransom, is now on 
the throne of Heaven, which is called the throne of 
God and the Lamb. Our nature has its represen- 
tation in the person of the Saviour on the throne 
of Heaven. Then, of course, our nature is infin- 
itely capable of exaltation. It is such that the 
Godhead can be personally joined with it, not 
merely as God is manifested in a tree or in a star, 
but the Word was God and the Word was made 
flesh. If our nature can be coupled with the God- 
head, of course each of us is capable of unlimited 
progress in excellence, and the apostle might well 
say, with rapturous faith and joy, " Beloved, now 
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear 
what we shall be." 

Of all the creatures of God, not natives of 
Heaven, we are to enjoy the destination, if saved, 



306 Walks to Ummaus. 

of beiDg exalted to the Heaven of heavens as our 
future dwelling-place. With those noble spirits, 
the unfallen sons of light, we are to associate, and 
compose a society, the societj^ of Heaven. 

Many passages of Scripture will readily occur to 
your minds, whose meaning will appear in a strong 
light in connection with this subject. For exam- 
ple, " That ye may know what is the hope of his 
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his in- 
heritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding 
greatness of his power to us — ward who believe." 
Christ says, " To him that overcometh will I grant 
to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over- 
came, and am set down with my Father in his 
throne." God says in Isaiah, "Since thou wast 
precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, 
and I have loved thee." Consider also these pas- 
sages : " And hath made us kings and priests unto 
God and his Father." " And they shall reign for- 
ever and ever." " If children then heirs : heirs of 
God, and joint heirs with Christ." Such words 
convey strong intimations that we are destined to 
great exaltation and glory of redeemed men." 
" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which 
God hath prepared for them that love him." 

It would seem that God intends to use the fall 
and the redemption of men to illustrate his nature 
and character to the universe, and for this purpose 
he has taken our nature into union with the Divine 



The Inhabitants of Heaven. 307 

Word, and will bring the redeemed up to his 
Heaven of heavens, and Christ will bind his people 
to himself as his ornaments, as a bride doeth. Be- 
fore the universe as they look to the Heaven of 
heavens, there will appear a multitude which no 
man can number, redeemed from among men to 
show what sin is, and what the mercy of God is, 
and how God can be just and justify them that 
believe in Jesus, and how God can love, yea, what 
an ocean is the love of God, without a bottom or a 
shore. There will be an interest in the redeemed 
far passing that which belongs fo angels. The 
Lamb is more intimately related to them than to 
angels. " For verily he took not on him the nat- 
ure of angels ; but he took on liim the seed of 
Abraham." Angels are like the elder son ; but 
man is the young prodigal, and when the young 
prodigal came home he made more music and danc- 
ing than the elder son probably occasioned all his 
lifetime. So there is more joy in heaven over the 
sinner man, than over the angelic ninety and nine 
who need no repentance. 

There on the throne is God and the Lamb, for- 
ever keeping up the recollection of the work of 
human redemption, and governing the moral uni- 
verse as God and the Lamb by the influence de- 
rived from that stupendous work. Joined with 
that work and ourselves a part of its history, we 
from every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
nation, are to be the objects of principal love and 



808 Walks to Ummaus. 

honor in Heaven, the adopted heirs of God and 
joint heirs with Christ. 

It is not all of our race, nor all in Christian 
lands, nor all in any Christian congregation, nor 
necessarily all in any one Christian family Avho 
have any presumptive claim. There is a certain 
number of our race who will attain to it, the rest 
will refuse it ; not be shut out by any decree, but 
refuse it ; for God " will have all men to be saved 
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." He 
is "not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance." But many prefer 
present pleasure to attaining to the peerage of the 
universe. They mind earthlj^ things, and have no 
aspiration to be kings and priests unto God. 

When we consider the population of the uni- 
verse, the redeemed although in themselves a mul- 
titude which no man can number, yet compara- 
tively are not many. Should the redeemed be 
employed to visit other worlds now created and to 
be created, — for is creation finished ? — not many 
could be apportioned to one world. So that the 
redeemed, in the view of the universe, and its un- 
counted population will be a select few ; gathered 
from a fallen race, far exceeding perhaps that race 
who shall be lost, yet compared with all the inhab- 
itants of all these stars, a few, the peers of the 
realm, the lords, the earls, the dukes, the baronets, 
the viscounts, an aristocracy of divine love and 
honor. To these, one of the angels referred when 



The Inhabitants of Heaven, 309 

he said to John, '' Come hither, I will shew thee 
the bride, the Lamb's wife." 

When I think of this, I want to be saved ; I 
must go to heaven ; I see why Paul said, " If by 
any means I might attain unto the resurrection of 
the dead." 

This subject imparts to us comfort as to our de- 
parted Christian friends. 

Where are they ? Affection and hope ask, Where 
are they ? They are not scattered far and wide in 
the universe, some m one planet, and others in 
another, but they have gone to the Heaven of 
heavens. They have departed to be with Christ. 
They are admitted to that vast company of the re- 
deemed who with angels compose the society of 
Heaven. They behold the face of God in right- 
eousness ; they are satisfied, for they have awaked 
in his likeness. And how shall it be with us? 
Soon we, like them, must cease from all things 
which are done under the sun. Have we a good 
hope that we shall go to be with them ? What else 
is there to live for but this, to prepare ourselves 
and others for the Heaven of heavens ? 

It must be inconceivably dreadful to be lost. 

To be lost is not merely to be shut up in hell ; 
it is to lose Heaven. No spirit there is happier or 
more welcome than we should be ; we can secure 
it as well as others. Nothing but our unwilling- 
ness to do that which is necessary to secure it will 
keep us out of Heaven. We shall have a whole 



310 Walks to Emmaus. 

eternity in which to reflect on what we have lost. 
We might have dwelt by the veiy throne of God : 
we might have been among those who are to illus- 
trate to the universe forever the manifold wisdom 
of God.- Instead of this — to go from such a world 
as this earth, distinguished by the incarnation of 
God the Son, and by redemption ; to go from this 
favored earth and lie down in sorrow with fallen 
angels — Avho can endure the thought? Who will 
not say, If I do nothing else all my life, but strive 
to be a Christian, I will be one. I am resolved not 
to lose this infinite glory and joy of which you 
speak. 

It is our deep conviction, impressed upon us by 
the study of the Scriptures and the ministry of the 
gospel, that exceeding glory and joy are prepared 
for redeemed men far above other beings in the 
universe, unless others like us should fall, and be 
redeemed. Could I, your fellow-servant for Jesus' 
sake, express the unutterable emotions of my heart 
in one word, I should say to each, that and only 
that which I once heard a man say to his infant 
child. He was a young Christian father, and lay 
a dying. I baptized his infant son in the sick 
room a short time before the father breathed his 
last. When I had finished, he took the boy from 
my arms and kissed him, and then holding him up 
he said to him, " Oh my son, be a Christian ; my 
son, be a Christian." I can say no more to each 
of you, beloved hearers, than this : Be a Christian. 



The Inhabitants of Heaven, 311 

A prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus 
is set before you. You may fail to secure it. Oh, 
if you should ! what would you say to me, and 
what could I say to you at the final bar ? Be a 
Christian ! Professed Christian, be a Christian. 
Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are 
called. Almost have one and another of you been 
persuaded, at different times, to be a Christian. 
Let me persuade you to-day. Yea, brother, let me 
have joy of thee in the Lord, refresh my soul in 
the Lord. Not me ; — ^let the dear redeemed friend 
and child, the society of Heaven, the Saviour him- 
self have joy of thee, returning at last from your 
wanderings to-day. Think of Heaven made for 
you and angels, ministering spirits sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. 
You are in danger of losing Heaven. You will 
lose it if you are not converted. If you would 
spend eternity before the throne of God and the 
Lamb, you must establish that throne in your 
heart. Behold upon it now the Lamb of God 
which taketh away the sin of the world. 



FEBRUARY 



FoxTBTH Sabbath Afternoon. 



THE JOY OF THY LORD. 



— " Therefore God, even tliy Gocl, hath anointed thee with the 
oil of gladness above thy fellows." — Hebrews 1: 9. 

IN his joy as in everything, Jesus Christ is the 
head of all principality and power. My subject 
is, The Joy of Christ. 

What are the Occasions and Sources of the 
Saviour's Joy ? " 

The happiness of Christ is owing, 
I. To his personal union with the Godhead. 
It is worth a great deal to have a clear, intelli- 
gible conception of the one person and two natures 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many are confused in 
their thoughts upon this subject. Some think that 
313 



314 Walks to Emmaus, 

Christ is only a human body inhabited by the 
Deity. Therefore they are at a loss how to explain 
many passages in which he speaks of his depend- 
ence on God, and in which human qualities and 
actions are ascribed to him. 

" Who is the Redeemer of God's Elect ? " " The 
only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became 
man, and so was and continued to be God and 
man, in two distinct natures and one person for- 
ever." 

Human nature consists of a human body and a 
human soul. These Christ possesses : " A true 
body and a reasonable soul." He is a man in all 
respects except sin. He is not, therefore, a human 
body without a finite human mind ; but with a 
human mind in a human body. He is properly 
called " the man Christ Jesus," as really a man as 
was John the Baptist, or the apostle Paul. 

Between the man Christ Jesus, at his birth, and 
one of the three persons of the Godhead there be- 
gan a personal union. Hence, as it is properlj^ 
said, " All things were made by Inm, and without 
him was not anything made that was made." 
Then we read, " And the Word was made flesh 
and dwelt among us." Thus we have in Christ 
the everlasting Deity in one of its m3^sterious dis- 
tinctions, which no man hath seen nor can see, 
joined with perfect man. Of him as man we now 
speak ; his human nature, his manhood joined with 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 315 

the Deity in his one person is in possession of the 
most exalted joy in the creation of God. 

You have only to think what would be j'our 
condition were you a sinless being, and you and 
the Deity should thus be joined, and you be con- 
scious of that union. Some will say, This has the 
appearance of in^everence. I answer, No, not if 
Christ be as we hold, God and man ; for he was 
once an infant, and if the Second Person were 
joined with a sinless infanf, in his case it is not 
irreverent to speak of it. Rather it would be a 
device of our enemy to keep it away. We are to 
suppose, of course, that Christ has thoughts and 
feelings which belong to him as man : there are 
two minds in his person; he is conscious of being 
a man ; he is conscious of being God ; how these 
two consciousnesses exist together without con- 
fusion, or' consistently with the unity of the one 
person Jesus Christ, we may perhaps decide when 
we can tell how the soul in us moves the body of 
flesh and blood ; this we cannot understand, nor 
can w^e know that concerning which the apostle 
says, " And without controversy great is the m3's- 
tery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, 
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached 
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, re- 
ceived up into glory." * The Saviour says, " No 
man knoweth who the Son is but the Father; and 

* 1 Timothy, 3:16. 



316 Walks to Ummmcs. 

who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom 
the Son will reveal him.""^ Here is. a wonderful 
declaration of the Deity of Christ* Can no man 
understand Christ but God. A poet says, 

** A God alone can compreliend a God." 

But it seems that the Son alone can comprehend 
God who dwells in the light which no man can ap- 
proach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can 
see. 

The babe of Bethlehem, the man of Nazareth, 
the friend of publicans and sinners, the intimate 
friend of Mary, and Martha, and their brother Laz- 
arus, the man who was asleep in the hinderpart of 
ship in a storm, the man who sat on a well and 
said to a woman who came there to draw, Give me 
to drink ; the man who went into Gethsemane to 
pray, and was there in an agony and needed to be 
strengthened by an angel ; this servant of God, the 
apostle and High Priest of our profession, and 
Jesus in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily, has passed through his humiliation 
and is now on the throne of the universe. 

We contemplate him there. We say that his 
joy surpasses that of all the creatures of God, of 
every name that is named of things in earth and 
things in Heaven. This joy is derived principally 
from union of the Divine Word in his person. 

* Luke 10: 22. 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 817 

Wo read of his exaltation. This refers, of course, 
to his human nature. It was exalted above all 
men and angels. Standing on Mt. Olivet, he says 
to the eleven, " All power is given unto me in 
Heaven and in earth." What a word is that ! All 
power in Heaven ? We consent to " in earth ; " 
thinking that he may have meant, as vicegerent. 
In Heaven? Yes: ''Let all the angels of God 
worship him." " Being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself, and beccime obedient unto 
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore 
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a 
name which is above every name. That at the 
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth ; and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father."'^' ''But to which of the angels said he 
at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine 
enemies thy footstool ? " "Are they not all minister- 
ing spirits ? " t " And he hath on his vesture, and 
on his thigh a name written. King of kings, and 
Lord of lords." J He receives in Heaven the 
same ascriptions which are paid to the Deity. 
" Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto 
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." Now while we cannot enter into the mys- 

* Pliilippians2: 8-11. 
t Hebrews 1: 13, 14. X Revelation 19: 16. 



318 Walks to UmmaMS. 

teries of that union and communion which subsist 
between the human and the divine nature of 
Christ, we know that his human nature must be 
fully conscious of it. What can any one imagine 
would be his feelings to find himself thus joined to 
the Godhead, on the throne of the universe, receiv- 
ing the worship of all creation, swaying the sceptre 
of universal empire, in earth and in Heaven, and 
wherever the various races of intelligent beings are 
found ? For the Word made them, and the Word 
dwells in the person of the man Christ Jesus, and 
therefore the man Christ Jesus has become, in con- 
nection with the divine Word, the vicegerent of 
the universe. Were we to dwell on this truth, 
ages could not exhaust it. These are the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ. 

I will only repeat these words addressed by the 
Father to the Son, remembering that the Son is 
man as well as God : '' But unto the Son, he saith, 
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever : a sceptre 
of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the 
w^orks of thine hands : They shall perish ; but thou 
remainest ; and they all shall wax old as doth a 
garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold them 
up, and they shall be changed ; but thou art the 
same, and thy years shall not fail." * All, there- 
fore, which the Godhead can impart to the human 

* Hebrews 1:8-12. 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 319 

nature of Christ, that nature constantly enjoys. 
It is interesting to suppose that the human nature 
of Christ, like the nature of saints in Heaven, will 
forever increase and be capable of still greater 
communications from the Godhead. 

The joy of Christ is not derived wholly from his 
union with the Godhead. 

TI. The joy of Christ is derived also from the 
recollections of his life on earth. 

The reason here assigned for his being anointed 
with the oil of gladness above his fellows, is this : 
'' Thou hast loved righteousness and hated in- 
iquity." How did he manifest it ? By being 
"holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin- 
ners." 

No one ever had such temptations addressed to 
his virtue as he. We think that our temptations 
are strong, and perhaps that we are excusable if we 
fall under a powerful temptation. But he was 
tempted forty days and forty nights in succession 
by the great tempter, who employed all his arts, 
aud experience, and perseverance to ruin him. He 
withstood those temptations, for the reason that he 
loved righteousness and hated iniquity. 

But he showed this chiefly by what he did to 
sustain and promote righteousness, and to destroy 
iniquity. A comment on this declaration of the 
text is found in the whole of his public life, from 
the time that he began both to do and to teach. 
Never did he connive at sin ; never did he flatter 



320 Walks to E7nmaus. 

the sinner ; never did he keep silence when oppor- 
tunity presented itself to rebuke transgression. 
His words were sometimes like thunderbolts, 
scorching and blasting the spirits of the incorrig- 
ibly wicked : '' Ye serpents, ye generations of 
vipers, how can jq escape the damnation of hell. 
Fill ye up then, the measure of your fathers." * 
'- Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. 
Woe unto thee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, 
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom 
in the day of judgment than for thee." 

Not only did he hate iniquity ; for some do this 
from mere feeling of opposition to others and 
mere malignitj^, and because they must have some- 
thing to hate, as certain wild beasts seek some- 
thing on which to sharpen their tusks. It is not 
enough, therefore, professedly to hate iniquity. 
Christ loved righteousness, righteousness as ap- 
plied to the very thoughts and intents of the heart. 
In his sermon on the mount and elsewhere, he 
makes no compromise with sin, but extends the 
law of God to the secret feeling and even to the 
look of the eye, himself being a perfect exempli- 
fication of that beatitude, '* Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for tliey shall see God." All his instruction 
from beginning to end was of the purest morality, 
with the highest standard ; so that its influence on 
the individual character, wherever it has power, is 
of a purifying nature, and its effect on communi- 

* Matthew 23: 32, 33. 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 321 

ties where it has free course is to raise them in the 
scale of moral excellence, however degraded and 
barbarous they may have been. 

The love which Christ had for righteousness is 
most conspicuously illustrated in his character and 
works as Redeemer. He so loved holiness and jus- 
tice that rather than sinners should be found with- 
out a perfect satisfaction made to the law of God, 
he gave his life as a satisfaction to Divine justice. 
Being appointed of God to suffer and make atone- 
ment for sin, he did not shrink from it, but en- 
dured the accursed death of the tree after a life of 
humiliation and shame. With untold and un- 
known agonies he laid down his life in support of 
righteousness ; that God might be just in being 
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Hence 
it is said, in consequence of his tasting death for 
every man, '' Wherefore God also hath highly ex- 
alted him, and given him a name which is above 
every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in 
earth, and things under the earth ; and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to 
the glory of God the Father." * 

III. The joy of Christ is also derived from his 
experience of great suffering. 

The thought of suffering in a good cause, when 
crowned with success, sweetens victory and en- 

* Philippians 2: 9-11, 



322 Walks to Emmaus. 

hances the joj^s of recollection. The hope of this 
is represented as one great motive wliich Christ 
had in the midst of his labors and sufferings : 
"Who for the joy that was set before him endured 
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at 
the right hand of the throne of God." * It will be 
with the Saviour a source of everlasting pleasure 
to think of all that he endured on earth in fulfil- 
ment of the purpose for wliich he was born. He 
will think of his poverty in contrast with his pos- 
sessing the riches of Heaven and of the universe; 
he will be glad that while foxes had holes, and the 
birds of the air had nests, the Son of man had not 
where to lay his head. As he sees all angels and 
saints casting their crowns at his feet, he recollects 
how he was once led by furious enemies to the 
brow of a hill on which their city was built, that 
they might thrust him down headlong. When he 
has seen helmed cherubim and sworded seraphim 
approach him, he has thought oftentimes of that 
night when men came with torches and staves, as 
against a thief, to take him. When Satan is bound 
and his cause ruined, and the man Christ Jesus is 
perfectly victorious over him, he will remember 
his temptation in the wilderness, his frequent con- 
flicts with the devil through his whole life, and his 
sufferings from the malice of wicked men stirred 
up by that infernal enemy. Once, on the eve of 
his betrayal and condemnation, he said to his ene- 

* Hebrews 12: 2. 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 323 

mies, " This is your hour and the power of dark- 
ness." They triumphed over him ; they slew him 
and hanged him on a tree. They that passed by 
wagged their heads, and said, " Ah, thou that de- 
stroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 
save thyself." Meekly, patiently, in silence he en- 
dured the contradiction of sinners against himself: 
Tie drank the cup of affliction to the last drop ; he 
poured out his soul unto death, and such a death 
as no man ever knew. 

Now he remembers Gethsemane, and that Judg- 
ment Hall, and that hill Calvarj^ and all their 
scenes, — O with what emotions, as he reigns. The 
captain of our salvation was made perfect in his 
joy as well as in other respects, through suffer- 
ings. 

IV. And in the last place, The joy of Christ is 
derived also from seeing the fruit of his sufferings 
in the redeemed. 

Isaiah simply said, '' He shall see of the travail 
of his soul and shall be satisfied." God says, 
'' Therefore will I divide him a portion with the 
great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong ; 
because he hath poured out his soul unto death : 
and he was numbered with the transgressors ; and 
he bare the sin of man}^ and made intercession for 
the transgressors." ^ Now all this is fulfilled to 
him. We can only look upon the outward scenes 
and occasions of his joy, the thunder of their 

* Isaiah 53: 11, 12. 



324 Walks to Emmaus. 

power, who can understand ? John in vision saw 
the whole multitude of the redeemed assembled 
out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people, and they said before their Redeemer, 
'' Thou art worthy for thou wast slain, and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood." Christ sees 
the first parents of our race bow before him, and 
ascribe their recovery from the fall to his sufferings 
and death four thousand years afterward, believing 
on him in the garden of Eden, as the seed of the 
woman who should bruise the serpent's head. 
Enoch who walked with God, does homage, to him. 
Noah speaks of his ark as the emblem of Jesus, 
the ark of his salvation. Abraham, the father of 
the faithful, and Melchisedek worship at his feet. 
Moses Jays down his honors as the great leader of 
Israel, at the feet of him who redeemed Israel and 
the Christian church. Great Aaron ! Where now 
are those onj'x stones which gleamed on thy shoul- 
der in the dim light of the Holy of Holies? Isaiah 
is there, and Daniel. There stand the apostles ; 
Paul counts all things but loss for the excellency 
of the glory of Christ Jesus his Lord. The noble 
army of martyrs adore him, having washed their 
robes and made them white, not in their blood but 
his. In every soul that comes to worship before 
him, Jesus sees and feels new and different emo- 
tions, suggested by the individual circumstances of 
each. 

If you, dear hearer, shall bow before him in 



The Joy of Thy Lord, 325 

Heaven, and bless him for his love to you, it will 
awaken in him the remembrance of your history, 
different from that of every other being, and will 
give him a separate joy. Then we may imagine 
what that eternity of joy which the Saviour will 
have, must be, as he sees and knows and loves 
every one of the redeemed, — for there will not be 
a soul in Heaven to whom he will not stand in the 
relation of Redeemer, not one, from Adam to 
each of those myriads of infant souls ; — each will 
know and worship him as his Redeemer. What 
an eternity of joy must his be. They will forever 
feel their obligations to him ; it will come over 
them as it sometimes does over your mind. What 
is it to live forever and ever ? where is the end of 
eternity ; forever and ever ; it makes the mind 
swoon as you try to think of it ; this interminable 
existence, what would it have been in hell ? Christ 
saved me from spending it in hell. Then as their 
powers and faculties increase, and their suscepti- 
bilities to happiness, and new joj^s forever flow in 
upon them, they will never cease to say. All this 
we owe to Christ ! My hearers, then what must 
be the future, eternal joy of the man Christ Jesus ! 
'' God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the 
oil of gladness above thy fellows." 

I wish to use this subject to illustrate a few im- 
portant truths. 



326 Walks to Ummaus. 

1. The happiness of Christ shows us the capac- 
ity of our nature. 

The thought never can cease to be a cause of 
wonder and joy. My nature is capable of being 
joined to the Godhead. Now we see in this what 
it must be to be redeemed and saved, and what it 
must be to be lost. Your nature is capable of in- 
finite glory and joj. It is of course capable of the 
opposite extreme of suffering. It seems sometimes 
that we would do or suffer anything if we could 
only make men feel this ; namely, What it will be 
for them to be saved, and what it will be for them 
to be lost. Oh, if you should perish, if with this 
great nature of yours, which in Christ is joined to 
the Godhead and can, so to speak, hold such joj^s 
as Christ must have; if you with such a soul 
should spend eternity in sin and misery, w^hat will 
you do and wiiat will you say ? Look at the man 
Christ Jesus, and think what happiness he enjoys, 
and then think, He is a man like me, except sin ; 
if his nature can contain so much, so can mine ; 
and what should it profit me to gain the whole 
world and lose my own soul? We look on those 
who have an interest in Christ witli great joy to 
think that you are to know by blissful experience 
the vast, the boundless capacities of your godlike 
nature. ''Hold that fast," then, ''which thou hast, 
that no man take thy crown." 

What an expression, " Joint heirs with Christ." 
Yes, beloved Chiistians, we are to share with Christ 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 82T 

his joy. ' When his glory shall be revealed ye shall 
be glad also with exceeding joy.' Thus the Saviour 
pl'ayed for you. " Father, I will that they also 
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; 
that they may behold my glory, which thou hast 
given me." But we shall also hear him sa}^, ^' Well 
done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the 
joy^of your Lord." Eminent service for him will 
be rewarded with proportionable bestowments of 
joy from Christ. 

2. We are instructed by this subject how we 
may now increase our future happiness in Heaven. 

What constitutes the happiness of our Saviour 
there ? for he is our example in everything, even 
in heavenly joy. We have seen that his happiness 
is derived from his union with the Godhead. It 
follows that the more we, in our measure and ac- 
cording to our ability, are in spiritual union with 
God, and the more his image is in us, and the more 
we walk with him, the more we shall be capable of 
enjoying. For "this is life eternal, that they 
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent." Neither science 
nor literature ; not great talents of themselves can 
make us happy in Ileaven, but to know and love 
God ; in that proportion shall the powers and facul- 
ties of our minds be fitted for great enjoyment 
hereafter. But we have seen that Christ's happi- 
ness is also derived from the recollections of a good 
life. He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. 



328 Walks to Emmaus. 

• 

The more we do this, the more zealous we are for 

goodness and against evil in our hearts, as well as 

in the world, in the spirit of Christ, the greater 

will be our reward. 

The sufferings of Christ also qualified him for 
abundant joy. " If we suffer we shall also reign 
with him." Then shall we feel that we had not 
one suffering too much ; that we cannot spare one 
pain, one loss, one sorrow. We should make great 
account of our sufferings and trials here ; for the 
faith which they excite in us will " be found unto 
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of 
Jesus Christ. There was one thing which was es- 
sential to the Saviour's happiness in Heaven. And 
what was that but his usefulness, his being the Re- 
deemer of men, his looking upon the fruits of his 
life ? What fruits have we thus far to look upon ? 
Have we given cups of cold water to disciples in 
the name of disciples ? Have we reason to hope 
that our example, our words, will be owned by 
some as the means of bringing them to Heaven ? 
Our happiness there can be vastly promoted by 
our usefulness here. 

3. Each of us may be an occasion of eternal 
happiness to the Saviour. If you should be saved 
b}^ him, he will behold in joxx forever an object of 
grateful recollection, yoxx. will be one of his spoils 
taken from Satan, and one of the ornaments of his 
triumph. The Saviour will love to have you for 
one of his redeemed people. Only reflect what it 



The Joy of Thy Lord. 329 

must be to have for a friend such a being as the 
Lord Jesus, such a happy friend : for if Jesus 
Christ is so infinitely happy, it follows that happi- 
ness is to be the order of his kingdom; if his joy 
overflows, it will certainly overflow upon his be- 
loved people ; and if j^ou gratify him by giving him 
your heart, depend upon it he will make j^ou as 
happy as your nature will forever admit. '' Where 
I am," he says, " there shall also my servant be." 
" These are they which follow the Lamb whither- 
soever he goeth." Why will you be gloomy and 
miserable here while you have such a happy Sav- 
iour ? Why will 5^ou refrain from loving him who 
is to be made infinitely happy by the ardent love 
of millions of millions of j^our fellow men ? Why 
will you perish when he is willing to be to you all 
that he ever was or can be to any other soul ? If 
one of you has any doubt that you, if saved, are 
to be a partaker of Christ's happiness, I will give 
you one word of Scripture in conclusion, which 
will both excite you to duty and strengthen your 
faith and hope. Christ says, " To him that over- 
cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, 
even as I also overcame and am set down with my 
Father in his throne." 



FEBRUARY. 
Fifth Sabbath Morning. 



-^♦1- 



HOBAB'S CHOICE. 

" And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Eaguel the Midian- 
ite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of 
which the Lord said, I will give it you : come thou with us, 
and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath spoken good con- 
cerning Israel." — Numbers 10: 29. 

THERE are those in every assembly who are 
as really on the way to Heaven as the church 
of Israel in the wilderness were on the way to the 
promised land. 

We have seen Christians enter Heaven. Have 
we not seen them enter Heaven ? We did not see, 
in each instance, the guardian angel with glorified 
friends, receive the departed spirit, Nor did we 
lose sight of the ecstatic company as they bore the 
ransomed spirit beyond suns and stars into that 
flaming void which no man can see and live ; nor 
did we arrive with them at one of those twelve 
331 



332 Walks to Emmaus. 

gates, nor see the seraph's smile as this newly 
arrived spirit entered into the joy of its Lord ; nor 
did he lay his right hand on us as we sought to go 
in, saying that we must return to earth, until our 
change come ; nor did we hear the first words of 
welcome and the first accents of surprise and joy 
as the happy spirit found itself in Heaven and 
thought. What gain to die ! We did not see and 
hear this, but we feel as sure that their souls are in 
Heaven as that they themselves died. 

There are also in every congregation those who, 
had they departed this life, would not have afforded 
us reason to hope that it was well with them after 
death. We should have been called to sorrow as 
they that have no hope with regard to some who 
are vet without God in the world', and some who, 
though they profess to be Christ's, love this pres- 
ent evil world. 

If it is anything, it is everything to be a Chris- 
tian ; to make your peace with God, to have an in- 
terest in the redemption by Christ, to be born 
again, having a new nature making you capable of 
spiritual tastes and pleasures^ and so meet for 
Heaven. 

Should you leave everything to day and become 
a homeless pilgrim, begging your way to some 
place in the ends of the earth to obtain pardon 
and salvation, it would be a cheap purchase. And 
if, instead of this, you get all which your ambition 
or your imagination have marked out for you, and 



EolaVs Choice. 833 

possess ail those worldly joys which after all are 
like a snowflake upon the stream, 

** A moment white, then gone forever; — " 

if you gain the whole world and lose your own 
soul, you will find yourself poor ; and God will 
sa}^ to you those two words which are the worst 
words which God can say, and which he did say to 
a certain man; and what were they? "And God 
said unto him. Thou fool." If God calls me " a 
fool," I shall lie down in sorrow and say. Reproach 
hath broken my heart. So is every one that lay- 
eth up treasure to himself, and is not rich toward 
God. 

There is a heaven-wide difference, then, in every 
assembly, — some, when they die, entering into the 
immediate presence of the God and Saviour whom, 
having not seen, they loved, while others have no 
God, no Bible, no Sabbath, no Throne of grace, no 
church of Christ, nothing, the love of which indi- 
cates love to God, nothing of which Christ can say. 
Ye did it unto me. And such were some of us. 
But we were persuaded, through the power of the 
Holy Ghost, to leave the paths that lead to hell, 
and prepare for Heaven. So did those souls who, 
from among us, are now in the realms of bliss. 
Your case is far from hopeless: it is full of hope, 
and also of peril ; hope because " to him that is 
joined to all the living, there is hope : " hope, be- 
cause in sparing you while Christians die, God is 



834 Walks to JEmmaus. 

long-suffering toward you, '' not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance. 

To that world into which Christian friends from 
the very midst of you have departed, we refer 
when we say, " We are journeying unto the place 
of which the Lord said, I will give it you ; Come 
thou with us, and we will do thee good, for the 
Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. We 
seek to bring you unto that Israel. Come thou 
with us. We seek not yours but you. Come 
thou with us. You are not with us now, but on a 
diverging road near to ours, as yet, so that we can 
speak across, but separating every day. Come thou 
with us. You are in bad company. You are on 
that broad road which leads to death, and being 
impenitent you are of the number of the wicked, 
and every gradation of sin and guilt is on the road 
with you, to that world where your sinful nature, 
losing its outward advantages enjoyed here, will 
plunge you to the level with the worst of men, or, 
if you have talents, raise you to the bad eminence 
of proficients in sin. We seek to save your souls. 
Your souls are as precious as ours. Heaven will 
be all to vou which it will be to us, and " who 
among us can dwell with the devouring fire ; who 
among us can dwell Avith everlasting burnings ? " 
We fear for you when we think of the perils of 
life, and of the possibility that soon and suddenly 
you may be numbered with the dead. 



HobaVs Choice. 335 

We have some reasons which we desire to urge, 
and persuade you to repent and seek the Lord. 

When Jethro, who is also called Raguel and 
Ruel, Moses' father-in-law, left Moses at the foot 
of Sinai, and returned to Midian and to the tribe 
of the Kenites to which he belonged, it would seem 
that Hobab his son, and brother-in-law to Moses, 
staid behind. But the time came when Hobab 
himself would return to his people. Moses had a 
strong affection for him, and said to him, '' We are 
journeying unto the land of which the Lord said, 
I will give it you : come thou with us and we will 
do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good con- 
cerning Israel." 

This is an interesting and affecting sight. Here 
is a man leaving God's covenant people, going back 
to those Gentile tribes which the Lord had sworn 
that he would utterly destroy. He is about to 
leave the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, 
who delivered Israel out of the hand of Pharoah, 
by mighty signs and wonders in the land of Egypt 
and in the Red Sea. The God who had sworn to 
Abraham that to his seed He would give that 
goodly land, and was able and faithful to fulfil His 
word. He was about to leave that people who iii 
the long succession of pious men, Jews and Gen- 
tiles, to the end of time were to be the redeemed 
of the Lord. There is vast importance in the de- 
cision which that man is about to make. The 
stream of his destiny is now a brook, which he can 



836 JValks to Emmaus, 

step over. If he goes back to his Gentile home, 
he may never see good : if he listens to Moses, 
casts in his lot with the people of God, there will 
never be a period in eternity when he will not 
bless God for his wise choice. We tremble to hear 
his reply to the invitation of Moses, lest it should 
prove that he knows not the time of his visita- 
tion. 

The kind invitation of Moses was declined. 
" And Hobab said unto him, I will not go ; but I 
will depart to mine own land and to my kindred." 
So it has frequentl}^ happened that our invitations 
have been unsuccessful. So we apprehend you 
will now decline our propositions for some such 
reasons as perhaps weighed with this Gentile in de- 
clining the best offer which had ever been made to 
him. Perhaps he did not like the restraints which 
the worship of the true God imposed. He would 
rather be an idolater and make gods to himself ac- 
cording to his own wishes. He loved the freedom 
and independence of his present state, the manners 
and customs of his Gentile friends : he knew not 
the God of Israel, he felt no interest in that prom- 
ised land, that great High Priest who was to take 
away his sins in his own body on the tree, nor did 
he see Christ with an eye of faith in the Passover, 
and the scapegoat, and in the blood of sprinkling. 
And yet for him did all the types foretell a dying 
Redeemer ; but Hobab w^as putting salvation away 



HohaVs Choice. 337 

from him, and would dwell in the tents of Avicked- 
ness. 

Thus men refuse the offers of eternal blessed- 
ness, and know not the time of their visitation. 
Indifference, or repugnance, or love of the world, or 
love of sin prevail with them, and if left to them- 
selves they would surely perish. 

Moses had himself once considered in his own 
case the proposal Avhich he made to Hobab. That 
was the turning point hi his life. He might have 
been near the throne, prince of the magi. Yet, 
what a decision ! He '' refused to be called the son 
of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer 
affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the 
pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the re- 
proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures 
in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompense 
of the reward." 

He was not the man to faint or be discouraged 
at this refusal from Hobab. His soul yearned 
toward him, and he addressed himself to him with 
new considerations. Failing in appeals to Hobab 's 
self interest, he resorted to other arguments. " And 
he said. Leave us not, I pray thee ; forasmuch as 
thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilder- 
ness ; and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." 
Then he renewed his promise : '' And it shall be, 
if thou go with us, yea, it shall be that what good- 
ness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we 
do unto thee." 



338 Walks to Emmaus. 

This persuasion succeeded. One consideration 
which prevailed with Hobab was, the prospect of 
usefulness. " Thou knowest how we are to en- 
camp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us 
instead of eyes." He was probably an Arab chief. 
He knew the wilderness, the best paths through it, 
where the wandering hordes had dug their wells, 
where woodlands grew for fuel, good places for en- 
campments, and he knew the signs of the weather. 
It was eminent wisdom in Moses to do as he did. 
It affords instructive illustration of the use of 
means in connection with Divine decrees. For 
though the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by 
night would guide and guard the host, Moses yet 
knew that God works by means, and helps those 
who help themselves ; and therefore he sought to 
attach to him this native sheikh whose influence, 
whose knowledge, whose sagacity would be of won- 
derful service. Hobab seemed susceptible to good 
impressions when made by good reasons. It would 
be no great temporal gain to him to follow with 
that host through the wilderness, but the thought 
of being so useful as he evidently could, gratified 
him, and in part prevailed with him. 

Now this is one of two considerations which we 
would urge upon you. There are those whom we 
would persuade to join with us in the Christian 
life by just this motive ; the good which you will 
do, the service which you will render to the church 
of God. There are some of you whose influence 



HohaVs Choice. 339 

in the community, if you should become truly 
pious, would be very great, and no one whose in- 
fluence God may not make of great use to him 
who " took David from the sheepfold ; he brought 
him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheri- 
tance." If you should throw your energies into 
the cause of Christ, one and another would feel it, 
and nothing could more effectually plead with 
them to do likewise. Your children, your associ- 
ates in business, manj^ and many a friend who has 
his e3^e on you and will turn when you turn, and 
thinks it safe to do as j^ou do, would come into the 
kingdom of God. Then what joy would be in 
earth and Heaven at your conversion. The Church 
of Christ would rejoice to see you in her fold, in 
her meetings for prayer. What would we not 
give to hear you pray in our meetings, to look 
upon you as 3^ou exclaim, '' Come and hear, all ye 
that fear God, and I w^ill declare what he hath 
done for my soul." What joy would there be in 
Heaven as they say of you. Behold he prayeth ! 

If churches had great wealth, and could procure 
w^ith it the real conversion to God, and the entire 
consecration to Christ of members of their con- 
gregations, no sum however great, would begin to 
compare with the good which those converts could 
do to the church and to the world, nor with the 
evil which they will do by living and dying uncon- 
verted, nor with the loss they would themselves 
sustain. 



840 Walks to Ummaus, 

Here is a mother — yes, an unconverted mother : 
if she would consecrate herself and her children to 
her Saviour and theirs, she might confer lasting 
benefits on the Redeemer and his people. When 
Doddridge's mother taught her son Scripture 
truths from the fire-place tiles, she could not have 
conjectured that he would one day write the hymn 
beginning, '' O happy day that fixed my choice." 
Or John Newton's faithful mother, dying when her 
son was but seven years old, that he would write,^ 
'' Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of 
our God ; " of that other hymn : " Day of Judg- 
ment, day of wonders." Here is a son, a daughter, 
whose conversion would create influences which 
likewise may be felt to the ends of the earth. To 
every one, even the child, we say. The Lord hath 
need of thee. We ask you to consider if you can 
ever have a proposal made to you by the world, 
which involves so much usefulness as this offer of 
ours. Think seriously of this : My God and my 
Saviour calls me to be hh follower, and promises 
to make me useful, and identify my name and my 
destiny. with his. "What else should I live for? 
What will be the end of all my gain, if I lose my 
soul ? What though I am the chief among men, 
and Jesus Christ does not confess me before his 
Father and before his ang^els ? '^ For he seeth that 
wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish per- 
son, and leave their wealth to others." The Duke 
of Wellington's titles filled the sixth part of a col- 



HobaVs Clioice. 341 

umn in one of our newspapers. I wonder if he 
was able to say of Christ, in dying: 

" Then shall he own my worthless name, 
Before his Father's face; 
And in the new Jerusalem, 
Appoint my soul a place." 

" And did not minister unto thee." These are 
six words in the twentj'-fifth chapter of Matthew, 
which if applicable to him in his relation to Christ, 
would spread a pall as large as midnight over all 
his titles. Whatever we do to Christ, and to his 
cause and to his people, from heartfelt love to 
Christ, is all which will stand, all which will be re- 
warded, and for everything else, you must have 
your reward only in this world ; but it cannot 
bribe your waj" to Heaven, or procure a look of 
love and approbation from Christ. -We need you. 
The cause of Christ needs you. Some of you are 
wanted to manacrc the affairs of Christian bcnevo- 
lence ; we need some to be active, useful private 
members of the church of Christ ; we need all for 
their godly, prayerful lives and example, and God 
only can measure the good which you can do and 
will do, if you are a devoted servant of your Sav- 
iour. Leave us not, I pray thee. But not to go 
decidedly with us is to leave us. 

'' And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall 
be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, 
the same will we do unto thee ! " Such was the 



342 Walks to Emmaus. 

second consideration, and that which prevailed 
with Hobab. That it did prevail and how it was 
fulfilled we learn from the Scripture history. 
" And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father- 
in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with 
the children of Judah," — that is, with the foremost 
tribe, — '' into the Avilderness of Judah, which lieth 
in the south or Arad." * After Moses had pre-' 
vailed with Hobab, and he had gone with Israel, 
Balaam came and uttered his marvellous words, 
among them these : "• And he looked on the Ke- 
nites and said. Strong is thy dwelling-place, and 
thou puttest thy nest in a rock ; nevertheless the 
Kenite shall be utterly wasted until Asshur shall 
carry thee away captive." And thus it came to 
pass. From their rocky habitations in Arabia 
Petraea, the Assyrians took them and led them 
away captives^ but lo ! the hosts of Israel have 
entered Canaan, and in the banner tribe of Judah, 
under the standard of Judah's Lion, is Hobab's 
family, whom it would seem Hobab had gathered 
with him into the number of God's covenant peo- 
ple : for not satisfied with being there himself, he 
has brought his relatives into the family of the liv- 
ing God, and God has given them an inheritance 
with beloved Judah. Heber, the husband of Jael, 
who slew Sisera, was a descendant of Hobab ; as 
some say were also that remarkable people, the 

* Judges 1:16. 



HohaVs Choice. 343 

Rechabites. All this while, if he had at last de- 
clined the invitation of Moses, his people would 
have been captives in war to the Assyrians. Thus 
whatever promise the . ministers of Christ make to 
3' ou with the sanction of Christ, a faithful and un- 
changing God will ratify and fulfil it to you and 
your seed forever. 

But this ^vas not all. In after years some of 
these Kenites seem to have gone forth among the 
Gentiles. For when Saul went to destroy Amalek 
we read, '' And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, 
depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, 
lest I destroy j'ou with them ; for ye showed kind- 
ness to all the children of Israel when they came 
up out of Egypt." * Here is mercy, remembered 
for the descendants of this man who, that he 
might serve God by serving his people, became a 
stranger in the earth and a sojourner. Thus no 
eye can see the end of the blessings which God 
will do to you, if you with cheerfulness, and with 
sacrifice if need be, and with all your soul and 
strength, consecrate yourself to him. In Israel's 
victories, prosperity and deliverances, Hobab and 
his descendants always shared, and thus it came to 
pass that what goodness the Lord did to Israel, the 
same did Israel unto them. 

And now, in conclusion, we will tell what good 
we expect that the Lord will do unto us if we are 
truly his people. We expect that he will make us 

* 1 Samuel, 15: 6. 



344 Walks to Emmaus. 

useful in this world. We shall meet in Heaven 
those who, by what they say to us of our influence 
in their salvation, will make us happier than all 
the kings of the earth. We expect that he will 
deliver us from every evil work, and will preserve 
us unto his heavenly kingdom. We expect a 
peaceful dying bed, '' as soft as downy pillows are," 
and such as all the ministrations of wealth and lux- 
ury cannot give ; no cries for help ; no forebodings 
of hell ; no stupid submission, the silence that pre- 
cedes a convulsion in nature ; we expect to be car- 
ried by ministering angels to Heaven ; we expect 
that Jesus will welcome us into Heaven, and con- 
fess us before his Father and before his angels ; we 
expect to be in Heaven, looking forward to the 
great judgment day, while the wicked in hell trem- 
ble at the thought of the resurrection, and after 
this the judgment, and after this more of hell by 
the confinement of the devil and his angels with 
them to that abyss. This is what we expect to es- 
cape, and be with Christ, when all his saints come 
in the clouds of Heaven to receive their risen 
bodies at their graves, and whole families of us, 
like constellations, to rise together, and enter into 
the joy of our Lord, and spend eternity in the per- 
fect enjoyment of God. All this we expect as 
much as v/e expect to die : for we know whom we 
have believed, and are persuaded that he is able to 
keep that which we have committed unto him 
against that day. 



HohaVs Choice. 346 

And now will you but go with us, it shall come 
to pass that not a joy, not a deliverance, not a 
blessing which God bestows on us but you shall 
also possess. The Bible will be yours. All that 
God and the Saviour are to us, God and the Sav- 
iour shall be to you. We wish you then to make 
up your mind whether you will be a Christian, in 
view of all th^ese considerations. It is for you to 
decide. God will never make you a Christian 
without your consent. You will seem to take the 
first step. God does not want involuntary obedi- 
ence, but intelligent and willing hearts, and if you 
conclude to-day to be a Christian, you will go not 
to us, but first of all to him, and repent and give 
him your heart. You will go alone in prayer. 
You will confess your sins, you will seek forgive- 
ness in Christ, you will give your soul into his 
hands, and all you have and are to his service. 
You will be a new creature, and the greatest gift 
which ever passed from one friend to another you 
will make, and that is your precious soul to Jesus, 
your infinite Friend, and the greatest gift which 
Heaven can make will be made to you, for the gift 
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
Lord." 

Everj^ one here will now make answer to this in- 
vitation ; every one will go, or refuse. Great con- 
sequences wait on your choice. We may not again 
make, you may not ugain have this offer. Your 
decision to-day may be worth Heaven. Consider 



S46 Walks to Emmaus. 

then, Will you be a Christian ? Will you be fool- 
ish, or wise ; a servant of Christ, or still and for- 
ever an enemy ; useful, or worse than useless ; ap- 
pear at his right hand, or at his left ; come, or de- 
part ; sing, or wail ? You are entrusted with a 
question whose decision you may never cease to 
feel in j'our eternal existence. Read the text, and 
think of this Kenite as to-day in Heaven, and all 
in consequence of this one decision. There was a 
woman, who made just such a decision to cast in 
her lot with God's people, and the consequence 
was, she stepped directly into the line of Christ's 
ancestry; for Ruth was the grandmother of Jesse, 
who was the father of David, and the son of David 
was David's Lord. Oh, what consequences often- 
times wait on our decision where God and religion 
are concerned ! Consent with Hobab, who sings 
to-day the song of Moses and the Lamb, and let 
Ruth's words express to the Church of God your 
choice : " Entreat me not to leave thee, or to re- 
turn from following after thee: for where thou 
goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will 
lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God 
my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there 
will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more 
also if aught but death," — nay, if even death, — 
" part you and me." 

** Once more we ask you in liis name, 
For yet his love remains the same; 



HohaVs Choice. 347 

Say, will you to Mount Zion go, 
Say, will you have this Christ, or no ; 
Say, will you leave those glittering toys, 
And share with us eternal joys ? 
Or must we leave you bound to hell, 
And must we say — a long farewell ? '* 

We shall not cease to follow you with these in- 
vitations till we have the same reason which Naomi 
had for ceasing to plead. " When she saw that she 
was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she 
left speaking unto her." " And the Spirit and the 
Bride say, Com,e." 



FEBRUARY. 



Fifth Sabbath Afternoon. 



-•♦( 



THE MYSTERIES OF RELIGION. 

** Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: it is high, I can 
not attain unto it.'' — Psalm 139: 6. 

THE knowledge here referred to is the omni- 
science of God. While the Psalmist says 
it is too wonderful to be understood, no doubts are 
expressed, no difficulties trouble his mind. He 
dwells on the omniscience of God with mingled 
love and awe ; illustrates it, draws practical infer- 
ences from it. The mystery does not seem to of- 
fend him, it does not stimulate his pride, does not 
excite vain-glorious efforts to explain it. He states 
the plain and simple truth with regard to the mys- 
terious subject ; he bows humbly and reverently 
before it, and then goes on to use it with devo- 
tional feelings, for instruction. 

349 



350 Walks to Emmaiis. 

Could we contemplate all the mysteries of re- 
ligion in this manner, they would be fruitful of the 
highest practical benefit ; but when we regard and 
treat them contrary to this example, they become 
stumbling blocks, give rise to profitless and vexa- 
tious speculation and controversy, and are occasion 
for unbelief which may even prove fatal to the 
soul. 

1. It is to be supposed that there would be mys- 
teries in religion. 

The natural world abounds with them on everv 
hand. Familiar to us and subservient to our com- 
fort, and many of them essential to our existence, 
their incomprehensibleness has ceased to trouble 
the ordinary mind, and even when philosophers 
search after their causes and abandon the effort in 
despair, they still accept the mysterj^ 

We are a mystery to ourselves. Nowhere in the 
heavens, earth, or seas, is there a greater wonder, a 
more profound mystery, a phenomenon more curi- 
ous and interesting than the animation of the 
human body by the immaterial soul. Are we so 
full of mj^steries ? Paul's argument on Mars' Hill 
against idols applies to this case. '^ Forasmuch, 
then, as we are the offspring of God," we may sup- 
pose that the Godhead is incomprehensible ; why 
should we understand the nature of God, when we 
are a mystery to ourselves ; why should his plans 
and purposes all be plain to us, when we cannot 
understand our own way? Why must we demand 



The Mysteries of Religion. 351 

to know everything concerning him and his doings, 
when in our own familiar business, we know not 
what a day may bring forth ? 

II. I propose to consider some of the principal 
things in religion which must of necessity be mys- 
teries. 

The being of God is the first and the greatest of 
all mysteries. While nothing has such self-evident 
proofs as the being of God, nothijig is so pre-emi- 
nently past finding out. Not to dwell at large on 
this, we need only consider that the being of God 
without any beginning, without any cause out of 
himself, contradicts all our experience. Every- 
thing we see had a cause ; our immortal souls had 
a beginning. Before this dread mysterj^, the eter- 
nity of God, we stand in awe ; any attempt to 
conceive how it could be, makes the mind swoon ; 
we fear the loss of reason ; we come away from the 
contemplation satisfied that we are of yesterdaj^, 
and know nothing ; while in our own selves and 
in everything about us we see proofs of an intelli- 
gent, divine first cause. He who made our minds 
must be himself a mind ; every house is builded by 
some man. The ten-inch globe hanging from the 
wall of an astronomer, made an atheist who came 
into his room ask why it was there ; and when the 
astronomer, obeying the advice of the wise man 
with respect to the way of answering a fool, (for 
this man had said in his heart. There is no God), 
replied, "It came there of itself." The atheist 



352 Walkn to Emmans. 

hardly needed to be asked, as his friend did ask 
him, how this planet, the great globe itself, had no 
creator, when the atheist would not believe that a 
little sphere had tied itself to a ceiling. Yet 
while the being of God is so manifest from his 
works that the heathen are without excuse, he who 
attempts to explain the mj^stery at once becomes a 
fool, as really as he who says, there is no God. 

If the existence of God be a mj^stery, who will 
dare say what mysteries his being contains, or if 
any such mysteries are indicated by revelation, can 
there be greater presumption than for man to say, 
this or that is impossible ; this contradicts reason ? 
Everything in the nature of God which is palpably 
obvious, is nevertheless above and beyond reason. 
Never, surely, need we be troubled by any mystery 
in God, or reject it because of its incomprehensi- 
bleness so long as we believe that he is everywhere 
present at one and the same time. Voices of 
prayer are at this moment ascending to God around 
the globe. Men upon the great deep everywhere, 
do not hesitate to cry to him in their distress, feel- 
ing", no doubt, that God is there. Yet who of 
them can explain how God can hear their cry, and 
at the same moment hear and help those on the 
other side of the globe ; and rule in the armies of 
Heaven, and watch every insect in every sunbeam 
of every world in all places of his domain ? Who 
will stumble at any alleged mystery in the nature 
of God, if he can accept this truth which, were it 



The Mysteries of ReUgion, 353 

not of practical use, would have offended reason 
and excited opposition when first proj)ounded to 
US, as much as anything which has ever been de- 
clared concerning God. 

As the being of God must necessarily contain 
mysteries, so must his administration, both in his 
providence and his grace. For example, his per- 
fect foreknowledge of all that will ever take place 
will raise the question, how he can command, witii 
promises and threatenin gs ; how he can justly re- 
ward or punish, seeing that he hath foreordained 
whatsoever comes to pass. Thus one of the per- 
fections of God could be represented as a great 
misfortune, incapacitating him from being the gov- 
ernor of the universe. But will it be any better 
to have a God who is short sighted ? All will an- 
swer, No. Who, then, will foresee, and defend 
against accidents? Let him have infinite knowl- 
edge, and let it extend to the number of the hairs 
of our heads. Let him with infinite wisdom so fix 
everything, that he or his government shall not 
suffer disaster. But if he does this, where is hu- 
man liberty ? How can he justly reward or pun- 
ish? Men have puzzled themselves to reconcile 
these things for ages ; and we are brought no 
nearer to an understanding of them. We accept 
the mystery of God's infinite knowledge ; we be- 
lieve the perfect responsibleness of man ; the con- 
sistency of the two is one of the mysteries of re- 
ligion. 



354 Walks to Emmaus. 

The existence of sin and evil under the govern- 
ment of God, is another mystery. The future pun- 
ishment of the Avicked is a mj^stery. We can see 
that to sin against God must be an infinite evil, 
and penalties must always express the evil of the 
crime. The punishment of sin is required to be, 
according to all our modes of reasoning, infinite, — 
that is, in this case, without end. This is fortified 
by the consideration of all that has been done to 
save men, which if trodden under foot by them, 
or neglected, after full and fair warning of the con- 
sequences, will make it eminently just, that they 
should never be forgiven. Persisting also in sin- 
ning hereafter, their punishment, as we can see, 
should always continue. It is easy, moreover, to 
see how the voluntary sin and the punishment of 
some, and that perhaps a few, compared with the 
population of the universe, will be the means of 
sustaining the government of God. Still, while we 
find the future punishment of the wicked declared 
in the same terms as the happiness of the righteous, 
and the heathen are pronounced without excuse, 
we feel that the judgments of God are a great 
deep. Who will say that the God who made it 
consistent with justice to save a part of the race 
through the atonement, could not by some expedi- 
ent have saved all ; and Avho will dare to give the 
reason why some are left to their chosen wav, and 
peri-h ? If the heaven above and the earth be- 
neath, and the heart of kings is unsearchable, who 



The Mysteries of Beligion, 355 

will sit in judgment upon the ways of God, or suf- 
fer himself to do anything more than assert what- 
ever God declares, w^hether men will hear, or 
whether thej^ will forbear. 

There are mysteries in the grace of God. 

The mysteries in the grace of God relate to the 
propitiation made for sin, and man's recovery from 
it, and personal election. Questions may be asked 
wliich never can be answered as to the atonement, 
and regenerating grace, effectual calling, and per- 
severance in holiness unto the end. Christians 
who receive these truths divide into sects, accord- 
ing to the views they take of these m3^steries, hold- 
ing that their respective explanations are most 
agreeable to the Word of God, which by its phras- 
eology, permitting good men to differ, shows that 
there are limits to human knowledge, and great 
room for humility and charity, along the borders 
where excessive light masters our feeble vision. 

III. The mysteries of religion properly received, 
are of the highest practical use. 

One use of them is, to prepare our minds to re- 
ceive knowledge. 

The way to receive knowledge is set before us 
in the method which the God of nature has insti- 
tuted in the trustful, inquiring, submissive spirit of 
childliood. God has ordained that when we begin 
to learn, we shall be inquisitive, earnest, and con- 
fiding children. If children were disposed to ques- 



356 Walks to JEmmaus. 

tioii and dispute ever3'thing, and set up reason to 
decide as to the possibility of what we tell them, 
there would be slow progress in knowledge ; the 
employment and the pleasure of relating and ex- 
plaining things to their wondering eyes and ears 
would cease. With a credulity which is touching, 
and an implicit faith which is disturbed only by 
curiosity, they form their ideas, they arrive at un- 
derstanding. This is the way in which we must 
sit and wait, when God teaches us ; for never did 
we tell a child anything which required a greater 
stretch of faith, than the truth of the eternal exis- 
tence of God, and his being everywhere present. 
Our Saviour showed us that this is the way to 
learn wisdom. He showed this not by word only ; 
he used a beautiful sign to impress it. "And 
Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in 
the midst of them." The child, of course, was one 
whose looks would give force to the Saviour's illus- 
tration ; a meek-eyed, loving, confiding, yet won- 
dering child, his face attempered with beauty by 
the emotions which played over it ; and as he sat 
there trusticg that the Saviour's motives in thus 
making him prominent in the crowd were kind, 
Jesus said, " Except ye be converted and become 
as little children, ye shall not enter into the king- 
dom of Heaven." '^ Whosoever shall not receive 
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not 
enter therein." The same submissive, docile, con- 
fiding temper you must have whenever God teaches 



The Mysteries of Religion, 357 

you, or you cannot be saved. Now what can be 
better suited to create this spirit within us than 
these mysteries ? If we begin our inquiries respect- 
ing religion, feeling that we are babes in knowl- 
edge, and asking God to teach us, '^ tlie meek he 
will guide in judgment ; the meek he will teach his 
way." 

This life is not the only period for acquiring 
knowledge. There are, unquestionably, mysteries 
in God which eternity will not fully explain. It 
would be a calamity should he cease to be past 
finding out, and there should be no more above 
and beyond us to excite and reward faith. Only a 
few mysteries are disclosed here, in kindness to our 
weak natures. No doubt we shall find mysteries 
in ourselves that will far surpass all difficulties 
with regard to free agency ; and mysteries in God 
which will leave every present doctrine concerning 
him among the rudiments of knowledge. Suppose, 
however, that we begin in this world and set up 
our reason against these mysteries, reject every- 
thing which we cannot explain, or which does not 
square with our notions ; poorly fitted shall we be 
to enter upon that world where increasing light 
will reveal things deeper and darker still, not to 
perplex and pain us, but to make us cover our 
faces, and worship. The seraphim in the temple 
had more wings to cover themselves withal than in 
flying. ''- Each one had six wings ; with twain he 
covered his face, and with twain he covered his 



358 Walks to Emmaus. 

feet, and with twain he did fly." We are on pro- 
bation now as to our reason as well as our hearts. 
Brett-Schneider says : '-' I will never beheve what 
I cannot understand, is the secret of all unbelief." 
If reason does not bow her knees before her God, 
we are not his children, and cannot enter into the 
kingxlom of Heaven. So that one great use of 
mysteries in religion is to prepare us, hj the state 
of mind and heart which they may excite in us, for 
present and endless progress in knowledge. Faith 
knows more than reason. 

Another use of mysteries is, to deepen our rever- 
ence and gratitude for revelation. 

When this Bible lifts the veil a little, and lets us 
see how much there is to know which we cannot 
understand, we perceive in its plainness and sim- 
plicity, its fulness and sufficiency, in its silence 
which is as wise and wonderful as its revelations, 
in its minuteness, and its large compass, occasion 
for unceasing adoration and praise. It is a broad 
land where snow-capped summits are lost in 
Heaven, where the blue ocean makes an ever re- 
ceding horizon, and still with this grandeur all 
about us, we dwell among vineyards, and under fig 
trees, and among navigable rivers and streams, in 
green pastures and by still waters. You will al- 
ways find that those who believe and love the mys- 
teries of religion have a proportionable love for the 
Bible : they are childlike, and so are best fitted to 



The 3Iysteries of Beligion. 359 

enjoy its teachings ; they are struck with awe by 
the mysteries, and therefore cleave with greater 
joy and gratitude to the things which are made 
phiin. Each attests, " Thy word is a lamp unto 
my feet, and a light unto my path." But you will 
always find that those that reject the mysteries of 
religion undervalue, and, to different degrees, dis- 
card the Bible. 

If the mysteries of religion trouble us, let us put 
our minds and hearts to that school where Job, 
perplexed and overwhelmed by the mysteries of 
God's providence, was sent, — a school where God 
became the teacher. God told him to gird up his 
loins like a man, as though in all his profound 
speculations he had been a weak, puling child be- 
fore. But what lessons did God appoint him? 
The first was this : '' Where wast thou when I laid 
the foundations of the earth ? " The subjects of 
the other lessons were these : The morning, the 
sea, the snow, the hail, Pleiades, lightnings, the 
wild goats, the peacock, the war horse, behemoth, 
and leviathan. God intimated that Job should 
first explain these, and then it would be time for 
other things. And when Job had considered such 
hard lessons, he relented, and his heart was broken, 
and he said, "I know that thou canst do everv- 
thing, and that no thought can be withholden from 
thee. Who is lie that hidcth counsel without 
knowledge? - Therefore have I uttered that I un- 
derstood not ; things too wonderful for me, whicli 



360 



Walks to Emmaus, 



I kuew not. Hear, I beseecli thee, and I will speak. 
I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but 
now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor my- 
self, and repent in dust and ashes." 

There is great compass to this truth : " Believe, 
and thou shalt be saved." 




Messrs, D. Lothrop and Company have assumed the pnhlU 
cation of the foUowing icorks of Rev, N. Adams, D. D., of Boston, 
The plates of th'' first three here named were burned on the press of 
Gould & Lincoln, in the great fire of November, 1872, having just 
been re-stereotyped to correspond in size and shape with the other 
hooks by this author. By the kindness of a few of the author's 
friends they are again re-stereotyped, the whole being made uniform^ 
viz.. 

The Friends of Christ in the New Testament. 

Christ a Friend. 

The CoiiEvnjNiON Sabbath. 

Agnes and the Little Key. 

Catharine. 

The Cross in the Cell. 

Bertha and Her Baptism. 



DESCRIPTION AND NOTICES, 



THE FRIENDS OF CHRIST IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

pp. 321. 6th ed. $1. 
The object of this book is to illustrate faith in Christ and love 
towards him by the examples of those who befriended him when 
he was on earth. 

1. The Wise Men from the East. 

2. Simeon. 

3. John the Baptist. 

4. The Bridegroom and Bride at Cana* 

5. The Twelve Apostles. 

6. The Children in the Temple. 

7. The Woman with the Alabasteb Box. 

8. Martha and Mary. 

9. Simon the Cyrenlvn. 

10. The Penitent Thief. 

11. The Relenting Crucifeb. 

12. Joseph of Arimathea. 

13. The Women at the Sepulchre. 



A rare combination of various learning, forcible reasoning, 
graceful dicLioii, felicitous illustraiion, beautiful simplicity, and 
pertinent application. — Puritan Recorder, Boston (^Rev. Dr. 
Cooke), 

Every way worthy of the fine taste, superior scholarship, and 
unaffected Christian spirit of the author. — Boston Traveller. 

CD 



The volume belongs among the best. — Watchman and Beflec- 

tor {Baptist), 

They will be read with pleasure and profit. — Christian Witness 
{Episcopal). 

Conceived in a delightful spirit, and written with rare ability 
both of thought and style. — Zion's Herald (^Methodist). 

Those who neglect to place this volume upon one of the 
selectest shelves of their library will miss doing justice to the 
most original, most affluent, and most useful volume of sermons 
which the American press — at least for a long time — has given 
to the world. — Boston Congregationalist. 

It is a volume that will live, and not die, and as long as it lives 
will nourish and develop the germs of piety. The portraitures 
of Christian character are so accurate and finely wrought, life- 
like and natural in their conception and finish, that they thril] 
the soul continually. — Notice of the second edition, from the same. 

The author of this beautiful volume was certainly favored 
beyond most divines who have published selections from their 
sermons in the happy suggestion to his mind of so sweet and 
appropriate a title. . . We have received from it edification and 
instruction of the most precious kind. . . We have noticed many 
admirable features in this volume, expressing some noble truths 
in chaste and eloquent language. . . The earnest and devoted 
zeal of the Christian minister to commend the character and 
offices of the Saviour to the love and faith of human hearts is 
apparent in the whole volume. — Boston Chr. Examiner ( Unit.). 

These sermons were listened to with great interest when 
delivered, and the following opinion of them, from a distant 
country, will, we doubt not, be responded to by many : — 

Extract of a letter from Rev. James Hamilton, d. d., London, to a gentleman 
in Boston, February 8, 1853. 

'« Many thanks do I owe you for your valuable present of Dr. 
Adams's Discourses. They are at once so sound and so fresh, 
so solid and so lively, so full of instruction and so practical, that 
I am sure they will be very popular and useful." — Daily Adv. 
From the same letter, by the same. 

** We have no one here nor with you who is the exact counter- 
part of Dr. Adams. Most of our popular religious writers, as 
well as those on your side of the water, are outre; but Dr. 
Adams, with his fine imagination and faultless style, is the 
Washington Irving of sermon- writers." 

The beauty of style, tenderness of feeling, and richness of 
doctrinal and experimental truth which the Discourses display 
are of high order. Some of the portraitures of character are 
exquisite, and the hand of the artist is visible in all. — JV. Y, Evang. 

These themes have the charm of novelty ; they are treated with 
an originality, an unction, an inwardness of spirit, which in 
these days of commonplace and outwardness make one's soul to 
come again. — Bihl. Sac, (Andover). 

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They enrich and adorn our Christian literature. We have to 
ascribe it to the fine creative talent of the preacher that these 
examples of faith and love towards Christ are reproduced in the 
full power of their actual life and beauty. — New York Journal 
of Commerce. 

Greatly refreshed and strengthened have we been by the pe- 
rusal of these Sermons. Fragrant with the gentle spirit of 
the gospel, they are eminently fitted to mould and improve the 
character, while they inspire the earnest sentiments of devotion 
in the heart — Ntw York Observer, 

This beautiful volume will become a favorite in very many 
Christian families. We can suggest no book more appropriate 
than this to those who would supply themselves with a choice 
and fragrant alabaster box of religious instruction, or who 
would give such to their friends. — New York Independent. 

A happy conception, this series of Discourses, an 1 as happily 
executed. Without affectation or bluster, they quietly find their 
way to the conscience and the heart. You find within 3"ou melt- 
ings of spirit, yearnings of heart, without any fore warnings of 
such effects. It is a precious family book, — a treasure to any 
member of the family of Christ. — Portland Christian Mirror, 

Through the kindness of a friend in Boston, your correspon- 
dent has enjoyed the privilege of reading *' The Friends of Christ 
in the New Testament." A book so rich in evangelical truth, so 
full of graphic descriptions of Scripture scenes, and so admir- 
able in its tone of Christian feeling, must be, sooner or later, 
widely read. — New York Correspondent of Puritan Becorder, 

A beautiful book in every respect, — able, rich in thought, elo- 
quent in the best sense of the term, commending the truth in 
holy beauty. Those who dare not encounter the reading of a 
volume of sermons will not be likely to lay this book aside un- 
read. — Philadelphia Christian Observer, 

The work is possessed of superior merit. — West, Chr, Advoc. 
{Cincin,, 0.). 

CHRIST A FRIEND. 4th Ed. $1 

This volume is intended as a companion to ** The Friends of 
Christ." There we saw him befriended : here we see him as a 
Friend. 

CONTENTS. 



1. 


Behold how he Loved 


G. Thomas. 




Him. 


7. Peter on the Waves. 


2. 


The Call of Matthew. 


8. Nathanael. 


3. 


The Widow of Natx and 


9. The Friend of Seamen. 




Her Son. 


10. John. 


4. 


The Conversion of Zac- 


11. Thou shalt never 




cheus. 


Wash My Feet. 


6. 


Who Touched Me? 


12. Paul. 




13. Stephen. 




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CONTENTS. 


1. 


Christ Died for Us. 8. 


2. 


One Sacrifice for Sin. 


3. 


Miracles at the Cruci- 9. 




FIXION. 10. 


4. 


The Three Crosses. 


6, 


Membership in Christ. 11. 


6. 


He showed Them His 12. 




Hands and His Fket. 


7. 


Communion with Christ. 13. 



THE COMMUNION SABBATH. 6th Ed. pp. 225. $1. 

This is a Communicant's Companion ; at the same time those 
of the congregation who absent themselves from the duty and 
privilege of communion are kept in mind. 



Salutations at the 
Sepulchre. 

The Walk to Emmaus. 

Thou preparedst a Ta- 
BLE before Me. 

The Sacramental Hymn. 

The First and Last 
Exodus. 

Expostulation. 

NOTICES. 

These topics ai'e treated with all the literary felicities and all 
the tenderness and exquisite adaptation that characterize the 
author's volumes, *'The Friends of Christ" and ''Christ a 
Friend," and mark him in his generation as without compeer in 
this line of authorship. — Vermont Chronicle. 

Dr. Adams never did a better thing. Simple, yet presenting 
in clearest and most suggestive form the deepest truths, touch- 
ing and pathetic in spirit and full of tenderness, they beautifully 
harmonize with the sacred ordinance. Some are exceedingly 
beautiful, conceived in the very spirit of poetry, and expressed 
with faultless taste. The volume will win a way to every Chris- 
tian heart. — New York Evang. 

It is written in a clear, chaste style, and almost with classic 
elegance. Admirably, we think, has he performed his task. — 
Christian Sec, Hartford, Ct. 

Rich in interest as it is beautiful. One would be glad to 
know that this work was in every family. — Chr, Chronich, Pa, 

Characterized by felicitous style, apt illustration, lucid 
thoughts, and a loving spirit. — Zion's Herald, Boston. 

It deserves to rank with some of the most popular issues of 
the English press. — Boston Courier. 

From the venerable Mrs. Eli W7iitney,of New Haven, Ct. 

I have read all the works on Communion which I could find, 
from Willison down, and I give this book the preference to tliem 
all. I wish to have it placed in the hands of all our young people 
coming into our churches. (This excellent lady, a siranger to 
us, wrote seeking to have the work issued by the American 
Tract Society ; but it was thought best to have it go forth with 
the other books by this author.) 

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